Time To Engage: "Going Further In”

Time to Engage

“Going Further In”

Matthew 26:36-46

On our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blblLUL6ioQ

Today, I’d like to use this message as a transition from our last or third word in our vision, “Engage,” to the fourth word, “Elevate.” And in our next series we’ll be looking how we can take our lives as believers to the next level, or what I like to think as leveling up.

And what we’ll look at will help give to us the strength to endure through the trials and tribulations of life.

Now, this message was not the one I planned, but it was one that came from the message some time back on being distant disciples and what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus took three of His disciples further into the Garden with Him.

So, let’s take a moment are read our story from Matthew’s gospel.

Read Matthew 26:36-46

What I see from our story are two types of Christians when it comes to following Jesus.

Sit On the Sidelines

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’” (Matthew 26:36 NKJV)

Now, I know that Jesus was the one who told them to wait at a distance, or on the sidelines, and not to go further in with Him, but there may have been reasons for this, in that he only chose the inner three of Peter, James, and John to go further in with Him.

Now, trying to figure out why Jesus did this is like trying to figure out the mind of God, And maybe that’s because Jesus is God. So, it would be highly presumptuous on my part to make any sort of generalizations as to why.

But what I do see, and what I have seen in my over 30 years of being a senior pastor, and my almost 50 years of being a Christian, is that there are many who sit on the sidelines, that is, they come to church, pray, or read their Bible when it is convenient. But they don’t go any further in their relationship with God than to come on Sunday morning, and that’s if there isn’t anything else they would rather be doing.

They are like that soldier from the Civil War. Not wanting to stand out or take sides, he wore Yankee pants and a Confederate shirt, only to get shot by both sides when he went outside.

I believe Jesus addresses these Christians in the Parable of the Two Sons.

Speaking to the Pharisees, he said that a man had two sons. He asked the first to go and work in the vineyard, but the son said he wouldn’t but later changed his mind and went. The father asked the same thing of his second son, and his second son replied that he would go, but didn’t. Then Jesus asked, “Who did the will of the father,” and they answered, “The first.” Then, Jesus told them that the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter heaven before them, because they “believed” in the message and went further in, that is, they believed and repented.

The second type of Christian revealed in this scene from the Garden of Gethsemane are those who don’t go all the way.  

Don’t Go All the Way

“He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee.” (Matthew 26:37a NKJV)

While He left the others outside, Jesus took these three further in, but they still didn’t go all the way with Jesus. And again, Jesus told them to stop there. But, “why” He didn’t allow them to go further in can only be ascertained by their behavior of not taking it as seriously as they should of.

This I believe, these three describe many of us, in that while we enter a deeper relationship with God, there are some things that are holding us back from going all the way.

In Revelation chapter 22 there was something that expanded my understanding of the Holy Spirit and power to live this life for Jesus and to go further in with Him.

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Revelation 22:1 NKJV)

(Now, I am going to go much further into this whole concept at the end of our series on our need to “Elevate,” to the next level. But let me give you a taste of what I am talking about.)

This is a picture of the heavenly Temple, and what we see is the throne room of God. And sitting upon the throne are the Father and the Son, or the Lamb, Jesus Christ. But where’s the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is none other than that pure river of the water of life flowing out from the throne. How can I be sure? Because the same word structure used here to describe the river is the same word structure Jesus uses describing the working of the Holy Spirit when He said that out of those who believe will flow rivers of living waters (John 7:37-39).