TITLE: “Running On Empty”
#4 in the SERIES: “Empty”
MAIN TEXT: Mark 14:43-52
Good Morning! Today, we are jumping into the fourth lesson from our series, EMPTY! Remembering that the goal is all about being EMPTY, so you can be filled with the fullness of Christ!
Over the course of these messages we have been looking at places in our lives where we are FULL, which need to EMPTIED. But, we have also found places where we are EMPTY inside, and we need to be FILLED by Christ in those places! Today, we are talking about those EMPTY places…
TITLE: “RUNNING ON EMPTY”
Our Goal: To Be Filled with the Fullness of Christ!
In fact, we all have our moments when we are RUNNING ON EMPTY! I would dare to say that some of you here today are doing just that. You are “running on empty” right now. Exhausted. Hollow. Discouraged. Void of purpose or passion. And you just feel blah…
“Running On Empty.” Like Forrest Gump, when he ran, just because he felt like running. For 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours Forrest ran across America. Maybe for some time now, YOU are like Forrest Gump, just going through the motions, with no meaning or purpose at all. You just keep going because that is what you are supposed to do.
If that is you, and you are RUNNING ON EMPTY, then today is for you! Because Jesus is here to satisfy the longing in your life, to fill all your EMPTINESS!
Let’s read our verses in…
Mark 14:43-52, Immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard.” 45 After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him. 46 They laid hands on Him and seized Him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48 And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a robber? 49 Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures.” 50 And they all left Him and fled.
51 A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him. 52 But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.
PRAYER:
INTRODUCTION:
This might not be the saddest point in Jesus’ life, but it certainly is ONE of the saddest moments… That moment when Jesus was betrayed by Judas with that fateful EMPTY “kiss.” One of Jesus’ closest and trusted disciples. Followed by His abandonment by the rest of the disciples.
But the MAIN CHARACTER of this text, aside from Jesus, was JUDAS, the betrayer. And we wonder, what led him to betray his friend? And his Lord? He had seen Him do miracles and teach the masses. Then, to only betray him with an EMPTY kiss!
There is something that came to mind as I prepared for today… Empty actions reveal empty lives; but only Jesus satisfies!
So, what about us who claim to be Jesus’ disciples today? Are we guilty of betraying Jesus in some way?
Thinking back to last week’s lesson in Matthew 14:32-42, Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. This is where He served His will an EVICTION NOTICE and was readied to walk through the next few moments in His life. Jesus was EMPTIED of His will so that God’s will could be completed in Him. That is why we see Jesus prepared as He was leaving the Garden, because He prepared Himself in PRAYER.
Now, the DISCIPLES, they are another story! We remember that they were not readied in prayer because they were tired, fell asleep and failed to pray. They wanted their sleep and that is what they did!
This is what we read from last week’s verses as Jesus spoke to them. Mark 14:37-38, And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? 38 Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Yet, the disciples serve no EVICTION NOTICE to their wills and they sleep the time away.
But what happens next only serves to reveal the true EMPTINESS & VOID in their lives!
1. Judas comes and betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, with a KISS. Coming as a friend with a display of fake, hollow and empty affection. And even Jesus noted the obvious contradiction here in the Gospel of Luke 22:48, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” Which reminds us that affections for Jesus don’t ensure faithfulness or fullness in Christ.
2. Then, once this motely crew comes to get Jesus, Peter follows through on His promise to protect Jesus from this kind of event ever happening to Jesus! You will remember that promise from Matthew 16. So, he proceeds to draw his sword and takes a swing at Malchus, cutting his ear off! (Either Peter was a lousy swordsman or very accurate, we don’t know.) But here, we find a guy who was EMPTY because he didn’t prepare himself in the Garden. So, he does only what comes natural, and he lashes out in the flesh against the flesh. Forgetting that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood!”
3. Then, in Mark 14:50, we read of how ALL the disciples left Jesus and fled! Which seems to be symptomatic of the condition of their lives at the moment, EMPTY and scattered!
4. But we get one more glimpse of someone being EMPTY and it’s pretty literal… A “young man,” that some suppose is John Mark, takes off out of the Garden naked! This imagery appears to be the situation of all the hearts of the disciples at the moment.
EMPTY. VOID. LACKING. We find that they too are RUNNING ON EMPTY!
Then, the scene seems to close at that point in Scripture. But, I can’t leave you hanging there, with a lack of a future and a hope, because Jesus CAN & WILL fill your EMPTY heart today if you feel like you are RUNNING ON EMPTY this morning.
Jesus invites those who are RUNNING ON EMPTY to come to Him! Listen to Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” And it applies to each and every one of us here at one time or another in our lives!
So, are you RUNNING ON EMPTY? Do you need to be FILLED with the fullness of Christ today?
ILLUSTRATION:
Story about me and my cousins who had a riding lawnmower that we used to ride around on in the back yard…
We RAN ON EMPTY one day, but we tried to fill it up ourselves, with water and ruined it!
There was someone else who was RUNNING ON EMPTY in the Bible, who tried to fill herself with other things too, BUT Jesus came into her life and made all the difference in the world!
(My wife came up to speak at this point about the Woman At The Well in John 4. To share a woman’s perspective on this.)
The Woman at the Well
John 4:7-10, Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. 9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.[a] She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” 10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
Here is a woman who was clearly running on empty, empty routines, empty relationships and carrying an empty vessel. I wonder if she thought there was ever any hope for her? I would imagine it was hard to see that hope when she had nothing to cling to and nothing to fill her?
Nothing, that is, until she came in contact with this man at the well, just another ordinary day fetching water, yet she had no idea what was about to happen to her!
I can picture it now, she’s walking up to the well (empty routines), in the afternoon, long after any of the other women in the village who would give her side glances, share condescending whispers amongst each other and cast unspoken judgment, she’s expecting to be alone (empty relationships) and she sees this man. I wonder if she thought a few seconds about turning around, but regardless, she didn’t.
She lays her jar (empty vessel) down and begins to hoist the rope to pull up the bucket filled with water to pour it into the jar she brought; and then out of the blue this man asks her for a drink. I bet she did one of these numbers (looks around – like asking “me?”) Jesus probably smiled and shook his head yes. She was surprised to say the least, after all, this man was a Jew and shouldn’t be asking a lowly Samaritan woman anything, let alone a woman with her history. So she asks him, “Why are you asking me? Clearly you’re a Jew and I’m just a Samaritan, you couldn’t possibly want this water from me.”
I love Jesus’ response to her, “If only you knew who I really was I could offer you something so much better than this cup of water. I could give you the missing piece in your life, the Living Water, that brings a refreshing to your weariness. The Living Water that can satisfy the longing for someone to love you. The Living Water that will never cause you to thirst again!”
She was intrigued, so she carried on a conversation, and during this conversation he asked her to get her husband. To which she replied, I have no husband. Wow! Jesus was exposing what was probably the greatest source of her emptiness. There is was, out in the open. “You’re right, Jesus replied, you’ve had 5 and now you’re living with #6.”
At this point I probably would have run away, but I believe she was so desperate to not be empty anymore that she stuck around to learn more about this Living Water. After all, what did she have to lose? This man knew about the reality she was living, so she continued the conversation and as they continued talking Jesus revealed to her who He was the Messiah!
I can just see the hope filling her soul, the Messiah had come to her! He didn’t judge her. He didn’t condemn her. He came to FILL her with the Living Water! She was so excited and so FULL of the love and hope of Jesus that she left this vessel (lift up the bucket) at the well because this vessel (point to heart) had been filled! Jesus was right, this Living Water was awesome, she had to share it!
Look what happened because she allowed Jesus to fill her…
John 4:39-41, Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many more to hear his message and believe.
How was this possible? How was she filled? Because she didn’t run away when the ugliness of her emptiness was exposed. Instead, she met it head on and filled it with Jesus. She had tried everything else, but it didn’t last. She was tired of being unfulfilled and I believe she would have stayed all day if Jesus decided to wait that long to reveal who He was, time wasn’t a factor for her, if there was a possibility of a life change. Bottom line, she came empty, but she left filled!
What about you? Are you the woman at the well? Is something leaving you empty? Are you stuck in the rut of empty routines? Are you looking for someone or something to fill you? Have circumstances left you hopeless? Allow Jesus, the Living Water, to fill you today.
(I then came back up to finish the message.)
The woman at the well reminds us again that Empty Actions reveal Empty Lives; but only Jesus satisfies! And boy, did Jesus ever satisfy her need!!
How about you today? If you are RUNNING ON EMPTY and will you let Jesus satisfy your need? Have you come the “end of your rope” and are you ready to let Jesus step in and fill you?
While I was home sick some weeks back, I came across this video and thought it was powerful and worth showing us sometime, and today is that “sometime.” It reveals how we all feel at times. EMPTY. VOID. HOLLOW. RUNNING ON EMPTY. But, it also shows us how Jesus can fill you with everything you have ever needed, HIM!
→Show the Video: EMPTY, by Slakefilms, 2006
AS WE CLOSE:
If you are RUNNING ON EMPTY today, Jesus is the answer! If you are EMPTY and feeling HOLLOW and VOID this morning, invite Jesus in to fill that EMPTINESS with His FULLNESS!
ILLUSTRATION:
The late, Dr. Adrian Rogers once shared how we live our lives like a car. We fill up the tank and take off, never thinking of our need for fuel/power again until we are running on fumes and run the tank empty.
His suggestion was to be like the trolley. A trolley runs with its arm lifted up and constantly connected to the power source above it!
THAT is the answer for us! To be connected to Christ on a daily basis so we never have to RUN ON EMPTY again! Today, I want to open up these altars so you might be able to come and RECONNECT to your power source again as we read these verses.
James 4:7-8, Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Isaiah 55:6, Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
Psalm 119:147, I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.
II Corinthians 12:9, And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Psalm 73:28, But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.
Zechariah 1:3, Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the Lord of hosts.
I John 3:3, And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Hosea 6:1, Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
Psalm 145:18, The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.
Hebrews 10:22, …let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…
Friends, the truth is that you don’t have to keep RUNNING ON EMPTY!
ALTAR CALL:
Salvation.
To develop a daily relationship!
To be filled up with Christ!
SONG:
Hungry
