Message
Luke 23:44-49
Into Your Hands
Congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Talk about bed-time prayers
The ritual of tucking children into bed … then pray … a popular prayer.
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I die before I wake. I pray the Lord my soul to take.
It is a simple prayer but it has so much meaning.
If God does not watch over us while we are asleep … then all is lost.
If we go through the day and the Lord is not with us … then all is lost.
If we were to die and we are not in the safe keeping of God … then all is lost.
As such we recognise the importance of this prayer which many of us learnt as a child.
In Jewish households, when Jewish mothers tuck their children into bed they would also pray. And the prayer they used comes from Psalm 31.
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.
3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.
Jesus has been through so much.
Now all has been completed.
Then He says this prayer … it is almost the same prayer His mother used for Him all those years ago. Father … into Your hands I commit My spirit. It is a very simple … but also very powerful prayer. So let’s have a closer look and see why.
Father.
Almost every time Jesus referred to God, He is Father. He called God “Father” almost 150 times … often referring to Him as "my Father".
The opening of this prayer reminds us of the intimacy there is between God the Father and God the Son.
And that is important to remember.
Because there was one time Jesus does not use the term Father … and that time happened at the end of the three hours of darkness when Jesus had cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?
Why is there no intimacy between us?
Why are You pouring out Your wrath?
Why am I unable to experience Your grace?
The intimacy was broken for a time.
But not anymore. After 6 painful, agonizing hours on the cross, Jesus hands over His life, back to His Father. Jesus dies with the knowledge that the price has been fully paid. Whatever happened in those three mysterious hours of darkness is now in the past. And Jesus can be at peace with His Father.
And that is really important for us.
This intimacy which Jesus has with God enables us to have peace knowing that all that was necessary for our salvation had been organised.
Some people think that Jesus died because of the agony He has gone through. It was too much to endure. Yes it was terrible … but many other crucified people had lasted longer. In fact it seems that, compared to other people, Jesus did not last very long at all. Let me read to you from Mark 15:43-44,
Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council … went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that He was already dead.
Jesus doesn’t die because He can’t endure. He dies because everything is in place. All is not as it seems here. It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming.
In three days time He will rightly rise from the dead.
In 43 days time He will ascend to heaven.
In 54 days time He will send the Spirit who will give birth to the New Testament church.
And then the Gospel will spread like wildfire. From Jerusalem to every nation and tribe and people and language.
Crossing into new continents.
Continuing through the ages … to each one of us.
There was no more to be added. And we are the special beneficiaries … all because of the intimacy that there is between God the Father and God the Son.
That brings us to the second set of words. Into Your hands
When we see someone we haven’t seen in a long time, we shake hands or we hug. When we walk with our children they often want to hold our hand … and they will not hold the hand of a stranger. We feel safe when our hand is in the hand of someone we know. And that was just as true for Jesus. You see
There was a moment when Jesus allowed Himself to be put into the hands of men.
For the past 15 - 18 hours Jesus has been in the hands of brutal people
With their hands they whipped and beat Him.
With their hands they slapped and abused Him.
With their hands they jammed a crown of thorns on Him and beat Him with a staff.
With their hands they stripped Him naked and nailed Him to the cross.
The hands of the enemies were not tender. It was a terrible thing. But let’s understand that Jesus was in complete control and allowed these events to take place.
A simple look of Jesus was enough to cause the arresting soldiers to fall to the ground. And when an overenthusiastic Peter tried to defend Jesus, Jesus rebuked Peter with the reminder that He had at His disposal was more than twelve legions of angels.
Jesus could have avoided this fate. But this was not the path He took. Instead, in obedience to the will of God, Jesus allowed Himself to be delivered into the hands of men. It was His love, not man’s ability, that caused Jesus to be crucified.
When Jesus was in the hands of mankind they gave full expression to their hatred for God by crucifying His Son. But that was only to last for a moment.
As soon as the debt for sinners had been paid.
As soon as all that was needed to be done was done.
As soon as Jesus had fulfilled all that was necessary
As soon as the mission was accomplished.
As soon as all that had happened … Jesus thrusts Himself back into the hands of God.
(But before His death Jesus delivers Himself from the hands of men and puts Himself into the hands of the Father)
Never again will Christ be in the hands of men.
Never again will He be at the mercy of the wicked.
Never again will He suffer shame.
In three days God will raise Him from the grave. And forty days after that He will ascend into heaven. And then some time after that He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
And those who trampled upon Him.
And those who ignored Him.
And those who didn’t think He was for real.
They will all discover that Jesus is the One who is given the protecting hand of God.
In February 2008 a fire broke out in a four storey building in south in Ludwigshafen, in south-western Germany. Certain that his tiny nephew would not survive the inferno, Kamil Kaplan did what few people could. He tore his nephew from his mother's arms, looked into the eyes of a stranger four storeys below and dropped the boy into the void.
Standing there on that bleak street, was Hakki Paker, a policeman who had rushed to the unfolding tragedy. Having met Mr Kaplan's gaze, Mr Paker stood firm, never taking his eyes off the infant as he fell. Holding his jacket as a net, Mr Paker caught Onur, who hit with such force that he knocked the policeman off his feet.
As talk of arson swirled and inquiries began into the tragedy, the people of Ludwigshafen asked: where is Mr Paker? The man dubbed "the world's safest pair of hands" has remained silent. He received treatment in hospital then returned to duties.
It is important to know which pair of hands you put yourself into. When you are in God’s hands, you’re safe. The hands of the Father are trustworthy hands. It applied for Jesus. It applies just as much for us.
Don’t be one of those people who is afraid to trust the hands of God.
Don’t avoid the security because you are afraid of what you might have to give up.
Don’t be like the people who want to have full control and steer their own course.
Be like those who have put their trust in God … knowing that He wants the best for us. Jeremiah 29:11 says it so well, ‘For I know the plans I have for you’ says the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future’. That’s what it means to be in the hands of God.
So Jesus commits Himself into the hands of the Father. But what exactly is he committing?
I commit My spirit.
While it is true that Jesus is just about to face death … He does so with complete confidence.
By committing His spirit into the hands of the Father Jesus shows how much He trusts His Father.
After this loud cry it was all going to be finished.
His body was going to become a lifeless corpse.
All the pain and the suffering would be over.
And then what? Well then the resurrection would need to take place.
Did Jesus have any questions about what would happen?
Did He fear that God was not able to come through on His Word?
Not at all. And we know this for two reasons.
We read Psalm 31:1-5 earlier. Listen to some of the other phrases which are found in this Psalm.
• Be my rock and refuge, a strong fortress to save me (vs.2).
• My times are in Your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me (vs.15).
• You heard my cry for mercy when I call to You for help (vs.22).
The whole Psalm is a Psalm of confidence. When Jesus refers to one part of it He is actually remembering it all.
This is why Jesus does not doubt. He knows God’s promises and God’s word. But we know Jesus also doesn’t doubt because of the meaning of the word “commit”.
It means to deposit something valuable in a safe place.
It’s what you do when you take your will or valuables and place them in a safe deposit box at the bank.
It’s what we do when we leave our possessions to others after we die.
We commit to them our prized, treasured possessions, because we know that they will care for and honour them.
By committing His spirit into the hands of the Father Jesus is showing how dependable God is.
Story of farm-hand … I sleep well on stormy nights.
Our God is dependable … and so much more. Which is very important to know. Because we have a bit of a problem … we are not so dependable. In fact we were spiritually dead.
That means spiritually that there was no pulse in our relationship with God.
When you are spiritually dead you can have no fellowship with God.
But just like Christ was raised from the dead we can be made alive in Christ. We can be resurrected from our spiritual death.
God wants us to be new people who have come into a new relationship.
God wants to work in us and change us through His Spirit so that we can be more like Christ.
God wants us to know how important we are to Him … and that we all have a significant purpose in His plans.
Do we see this?
On this Good Friday, and every day, this is the prayer we need
Father into your hands I commit my spirit.
• There will be hard days.
• I will need to be carried.
• I won’t always do what You want me too.
But there is nowhere else I can go … as I lay down to sleep I am safe. For God has my soul.
Prayer
