1. Title: A Walk Through The Garden
2. Text: Matthew 26:36-56; Mark 14:32-52; Luke 22:39-53; John 18:1-12
3. Audience: Villa Heights Christian Church, AM crowd, March 26, 2006, 1st in the 4 part series “Walk To The Cross”
4. Objectives:
-for the people to examine the actions of Jesus at Gethsemane and to learn how He handled loneliness, disappointment, threat, fear of the future, and all that was coming down upon Him at that time; to learn how Jesus took the hardest moments head-on with prayer, with fellowship, with general dependence on the Father; to see how God answered the prayers of Jesus and ministered to His needs in such a way that He was able to rise up and face the most difficult of moments with power
-for the people to feel a closeness with and appreciation for Jesus because of what He endured on our behalf; to feel moved to the same approach that Jesus used to face His crisis time
-for the people to take the approach of Jesus into their greatest times of crisis, especially any they are facing right now
5. When I finish my sermon I want my audience to learn from Jesus the way to face life’s times of crisis with power that comes from God and to take that into their next hard time
6. Type: textual
7. Dominant Thought: Jesus faced His great moment of crisis with helps that are there for us to use
8. Outline:
Ill - This past week, I drove across Illinois a couple of times, and there, outside Effingham, at the intersection of I-57 and I-70 stands a 198 foot cross. It was constructed by the cross foundation. You’d have to try hard to not see it. Some 50,000 travelers drive by there each day, and the Cross Foundation wants the site to serve as a beacon of hope to everyone who sees it. For those who learn about it and come to understand it, the cross has profound meaning. So, for the next few weeks, I don’t want us to all drive to Effingham. Instead, in your mind’s eye, I want us to walk with Jesus to the cross. It’s just a few hours of His life on earth, but it’s the very center of His whole reason for becoming human
This morning we look in on Jesus at a most crucial time. There was a hill outside Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley, called the Mount of Olives. On that hillside was a grove of some kind, named Gethsemane. It means Olive press, and it was a favorite place where Jesus and His disciples would go to get away. You’ll often hear it called the “Garden of Gethsemane.” After the Last Supper, Jesus led His disciples through Jerusalem, out into the night air, through a gate, across the Kidron Valley, and up the Mt. of Olives. It was the last time they’d be together before the cross. Jesus wanted to be there with His friends. I believe He wants us there too. He must, because all 4 gospels describe what happened there.
We’ve seen Jesus, rejoicing at the success of His disciples, authoritatively kicking money changers from the temple, attracting multitudes of people, even raising the dead. The Garden of Gethsemane shows us Jesus burdened with troubles, facing crisis, struggling.
So, let’s take a walk through the garden this morning – not to check the green beans or the flowers, but to learn from Jesus how we can face life with courage and strength.
I. You’ve Got Problems
Do you have problems? I’m not psychic. I just know it’s true. You’ve got problems. They’re physical, psychological, financial, mechanical, or relational. They’re big or small. They’re new or old. They’re over, they’re happening now, or they’re about to happen, but you’ve got problems. You may have put on your church face and tried to walk in here like you don’t have any, but you’ve got problems.
That night, in the garden, Jesus was facing some problems too – problems that you sometimes face.
Not all of these will apply to you, but I’m thinking that somewhere along the way there’s at least a couple that will speak to most of us.
1. Fear of the future
If you knew that this was the day you’re going to die, would you have gotten out of bed as early this morning? If you knew that you were going to die in a car accident, would you have been as quick to get into your car? You don’t know the future. If you did, that would be hard to deal with. Not knowing it is hard enough.
What’s going to happen with Iran? When will the next large-scale terrorist attack happen? Is it safe to send my kids to school? What’s going to happen with my job? Who will I marry, and will I have a good marriage? What will my kids turn out to be? What’s going to happen to my body as I get older? Some of us, to one degree or another, have some fear of the future.
Jesus knew what was coming. In just hours, he’d be on trial, beaten, and crucified. He’d read Is 53. He knew it was coming. He’d predicted it to His disciples, and He was trying to prepare them for it.
Matthew 26:37-38
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
Why the great sorrow? Part of it was knowing what He was about to face.
There’s another great challenge, and if you ever knew a person, you’ve had to deal with it:
2. Disappointment with people
How many of you here this morning have ever been let down by a person? Of course. It goes with being a person. Somewhere along the way, in the process of getting to know another person, you learn something about that person or see something that disappoints you. The longer you know them, the more disappointing things you know. Friendship is when you begin to learn those things but still hang around with someone. Still, those let-downs can be tough to deal with when you’re under pressure.
Jesus had dealt with disappointments in His closest followers for some 3 years up to this point. But in the garden He would be faced with the greatest of let-downs.
It starts with the disciples not being able to stay awake. Jesus urges to them to “keep watch.” It’s a word that means just the opposite of sleep – keep awake, be vigilant, be on guard. But after He’s been struggling alone in prayer, He returns to find them all asleep, 3X. The pressures of the past several days, and now this late night, have taken their toll. Finally, He wakes them and tells them it’s time. Sure enough, a mob has come to arrest Him. Judas approaches to identify Jesus. He isn’t greeting Him and giving Him a greeting kiss because He loves him. You can hear the disappointment as Jesus says, “You’re going to betray me with a kiss?” As soon as they advance to grab Jesus, Peter whips out a sword to take them all on. He tries to kill one of them, and Jesus has to tell Him to put the sword away. It’s not the way His Kingdom is going to conquer. Imagine the disappointment that Jesus felt as Peter just didn’t get it. Then, when they see that Jesus isn’t going to resist, “Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.” (Matthew 26:56b)
Jesus had known this ahead of time. He had told them earlier,
Matthew 26:31-34
"This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: "’I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will." "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."
He’d known it ahead of time, but try to imagine the sense of abandonment Jesus felt as He watched His closest friends running away into the night. That was a problem Jesus faced in the garden. We’ve all been disappointed by people. It’s a problem you’ll face sooner or later, unless you’re a hermit – and if you are a hermit, it’s probably because you’ve been disappointed by people!
3. The weight of temptation
It’s important to understand this morning that we have this common problem. We’re all tempted. The fact that you are doesn’t mean you’re not spiritual. It just means you’re normal. It’s not a sin to be tempted. ,Mark tells us right after He was baptized Jesus was driven by the HS out into the wilderness where He was ______ by Satan for 40 days. Jesus…tempted. Heb. 4:15 says that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are yet was without sin. I can’t explain exactly what Jesus was facing in the Garden. That has been debated for centuries. But one thing is for sure: it was a moment of temptation, and Satan was trying to use it to somehow get Jesus off track from His life-mission. There’s a difference between being tempted and sinning. The difference is what we choose to do about temptation; what we do with it.
That night in the garden, Jesus urged the disciples to keep watch with Him and to pray that they wouldn’t fall into temptation. They were about to face all kinds of temptations head-on, and Jesus knew they’d need help. He had already prayed for them, and they needed to make it a matter of prayer too.
We’re tempted. Amen? Satan is trying to get you off track from your life mission. If you’re in denial on that this morning, your problem is even bigger.
1 Corinthians 10:12 - So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
The person who’s about to fall on his face is the one who says, “Well, that guy may have messed up, but I never will!”
Ill - General John B. Sedgwick, May 9,1864, on the battlefield in Spotsylvania. A soldier, just in front of him, heard a sharpshooter’s bullet go overhead and he ducked to the ground. Why, my man, I am ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance." Seconds later Sedgwick was killed as a bullet struck his face.
Right after it warns us to be careful that we don’t fall, the Scriptures say,
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And 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.
What does that mean? That no matter what tempts you, no matter what you may give in to, no matter what front Satan has used or uses to attack you, it’s not new. You can’t say, “Well, I’m giving in because this is more than anyone has ever endured before. And it’s not a situation where God has left you high and dry! He’ll make you able to bear it. How? By providing a way out.
Now, how many of you have ever been tempted, seen the way of escape, and not taken it?
The fact is, every one of us has chosen at some point to give in to it. We’ve all chosen to just give in, instead of stand up under it. Jesus didn’t. Jesus is the only person Who understands the weight of saying “No” to temptation every time it faced Him. None of us knows just how heavy that is, because we all have just given in. Jesus never did. Only Jesus understands the full weight of temptation.
Then there’s the weight of one problem than none of us can really comprehend…
4. The weight of sin as it came down on Him
At some point, the sinless Son of God took the guilt of our sin upon Himself. The Bible says that God made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
More than once, I’ve suffered because of someone else’s mess-ups. It started in school when the teacher would keep the whole class in from recess because one person did something wrong. It still happens today. Every time I buy something at Wal Mart, a certain percentage of that cost goes to cover the theft that someone else commits in their stores. Those are just minor things.
Imagine, if you dare, the degree of anguish that Jesus began to feel as the weight of the sins of the world is somehow placed upon His shoulders. It’s the kind of pressure that causes Him to intimate to His friends that He’s filled with sorrow to the point of death. It’s the kind of pressure that makes one sweat drops of blood. It’s the kind of pressure that makes Him fall with His face to the ground and plead with the Father with great cries and tears, we read about Him in Heb. 5. It’s the God of Justice, allowing the ultimate injustice against Himself. The perfectly innocent, accepting the guilt of the completely guilty.
I know you’ve got problems in life. I want you to see this morning, as you take a walk in the garden, that Jesus had problems. In just that short amount of time He faced more than we can even understand. But I want you to continue to look and see that…
II. You’ve Got Help
This part of the walk to the cross is going to end with Jesus on a strong note. He wins! So let’s look at what Jesus tapped into that helped Him come out standing on the other end.
1. Prayer
Before they arrived at the garden, in John 17, we read the longest recorded prayer of Jesus. When He arrives at the garden, Jesus tells them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." Then, He takes along Peter, James, and John, and tells them, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” He goes away from them, falls to the ground, and prays. 3 times He prays the same prayer. His whole ministry Jesus has often slipped away by Himself to spend time in prayer. It’s no surprise, is it, that at such a crisis moment in His mission we find Jesus praying again?
I know we spent an entire year last year emphasizing prayer. The point wasn’t for it to be a passing fad. The point was to establish it as the way we’re going to get things done at VHCC. I’m here to remind you this morning, if you’re facing a problem, you need to face it in prayer. If you’re let down or beat up or tempted, you need to take your problem to the Father. He’s big enough. He can fix it. That’s just following the example of Jesus.
The second help I notice here is…
2. Fellowship
Isn’t it interesting, for all of the times they disappointed Him, for all of the frustration Jesus must have felt as He worked to prepare the men who would become His Apostles, when it came down to the end, what did Jesus do? He surrounded Himself with His closest friends – those men.
Ill - I’ve been around some people at the time of death. I have yet to hear someone say to all his or her family members, “Hey, why don’t you all just leave the room. I want to be alone!” No, instead, they’ll usually ask their loved ones not to leave. They want them nearby during that time.
Too often in the Church, when people enter into hard times, they tend to drift off by themselves, and Satan uses that. It’s exactly the opposite of what we need. Having fellowship means we have things in common. It means that when one part of the Body faces a crisis, the other parts of the Body share in the burden of that crisis.
How about this – how about, instead of coming here on Sunday with your church face on and acting like everything is just ducky we all come here and speak openly about our struggles? How about, instead of giving people the impression that this is where you come once you have your life all together, we give them the real impression that the church is a hospital for the sick, a home for the lonely, and a place of belonging for misfits? We need the fellowship of believers, and we especially need it when we face troubling times. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. God has given us each other as a help.
3. Resignation to God’s plan
Before He came to this night in the garden, Jesus already had a history of this. Please don’t ask me to try to explain in 25 minutes how Jesus the Son is one with the Father and at the same time, while He’s on earth, says that He only does what the Father wants Him to do.
John 5:19 "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
John 8:28 "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.
John 15:10 “…I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
Whatever the specific challenge Jesus was struggling with in the Garden, whatever the temptation was, as He prayed it lasted about one sentence. No sooner had Jesus said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me;” than He said, "yet not my will, but yours be done." It was His resignation – not from being Messiah, but to the Father’s will.
How many times have you been unable to come up with an answer to a problem, a reason for what has happened? Life gets out of your control, and you really can’t make sense of it. What can you do? You can resign. Not resign your job or your marriage or from being president of the club, but resign your will to God’s will. Trust that God will keep His word. Will He indeed work all things together for good to them who love Him? Will the testing of your faith really help make you a complete person? Is God really showing that He loves you as His child when He allows you to endure discipline? Is it true that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us?
Go ahead. Give up! Just make sure that what you’re giving up is your plans with your limited knowledge and your limited understanding of life. Resign to God’s plan.
I’ve often referred to II Co 10:3ff as a reminder that the battle we’re fighting is a battle in the mind; it’s a war of ideas and convictions, and it’s going to be won or lost there before you ever live it out. Gethsemane is proof of that all over again. Once it was settled in His mind, Jesus’ actions leave no doubt about Who had won.
Take a good hard look at how Jesus dealt with this critical moment in the garden, because the outcome was that He continued His walk to the cross. In spite of the problems, when Jesus applied the helps, He was able to face it.
III. You Can Face Life
I see in Jesus 3 indicators that He had conquered His problems in the garden:
1. Care for others’ well-being
One of the characteristics of a person under extreme stress is self-preservation. It’s the reason that people get trampled to death when there’s a fire in a crowded building. You probably experience on a smaller scale with the way you treat your family or close friends when you’re under a lot of stress. The tendency most of have is to lose our care for the well-being of those around us and to just look after ourselves.
Jesus wakes up the disciples. For their benefit, He doesn’t want them in a daze as the crisis approaches. And rather than letting the mob sift through all of them to get to Jesus, He stands out in front of them all.
John 18:8b "If you are looking for me, then let these men go."
When Peter launches into a blind attack with his a sword, Jesus helps him come to his senses. His healing of Malcus’ ear helps make it easier for Peter to be let go.
Now, all of these are indicators that Jesus is facing life, because He’s looking out for the well-being of His friends, not Himself. Of course, that’s what the cross was all about in the first place, but it certainly gives us some insight into how Jesus is facing it here during crunch time.
One of the reasons you have to use the helps God has given us is so that you’ll be able to do the same – to care about the needs of people around you and not just yourself.
Similar to that, but still a little different is
2. Compassion for others’ limits
Jesus had reasons to be disappointed by His disciples that night. They were afraid to the point they all abandoned Him. They were held back by their physical limitations. They were impulsive and they hadn’t listened very well to the warnings he had been giving them. But rather than being angry or growing impatient with them, we find Jesus helping them through the whole mess.
I don’t know about you, but when I’m faced personally with problems, I have a tendency to want the people around me to be perfect. I don’t want to have to allow for their emotional state or their physical state. I want them to all be perfect…like me! It’s when I’m that way toward others that I need to go back to the helps–so I can face life and so I can treat people like I know I ought to.
3. Power to deal with life
Look at the scene as John paints it when Jesus has awakened His disciples. He has probably seen the torches and lanterns of the mob as they trekked across the Kidron Valley and started up the Mt. of Olives to Gethsemane. There was probably enough time they could have made a break for it. Instead, Jesus goes out to meet them.
John 18:4-8 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?" "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." "I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go."
This mob wasn’t expecting Jesus to confront them. They all trip over each other. “Hey, we’re the ones doing the intimidating here. Cut it out!” And here Judas was, all set to be important and give away Jesus’ identity, and Jesus has stripped it. It’s just an empty performance when He gives Jesus the greeting kiss because Jesus has just announced His identity. That’s the kind of power Jesus had to deal with His enemies after the helps that God gave.
And when Peter struck out with his sword, notice what Jesus says,
John 18:11 Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" The cup was the wrath of God that was about to be poured out on Jesus at the cross. That’s how Jesus faced hardship after taking the walk in the garden.
Conclusion:
I don’t know what challenges in life you’re facing this morning. I only know that you are. And, I know that you can face those challenges with power and with a right care for others, if you’ll follow the example of Jesus. He prayed. He kept Himself near His friends for support. He resigned to the Father’s plan for His life.
Friend, that sounds to me like a plan for success this morning…
