Jesus' Struggle and Prayer in Gethsemane

I'm going to read a passage of scripture from Matthew chapter 26, if you'd like to find that in your Bible, and I'm going to reference most of the chapter, beginning with the first part of that chapter, all the way through verse 39. I think there's a tendency for us, when we read the scriptures, to think of it in terms of ourselves, and when you read the story of Jesus' life, you think of Jesus teaching people, and we tend to identify with the people who are being taught, but Jesus was a human being. He was human like all of us are. All the things that he went through are things that we would experience too, and it's difficult for us to take Jesus in the inside of his mind and heart, because he never talked very much about that. This passage that I'm going to use this morning maybe is one of the few times in the scriptures in which Jesus opens his own mind and his own heart, and he lets us look into who he is, how he feels, and what's going on with him. He was going through a really difficult time. Now we read these stories, and we look at the things that took place, and we see them in terms of the disciples and what they did. The chapter starts by Jesus telling the disciples, two days are going to come to Passover, and then the Son of Man is going to be crucified, a very painful death. Now Jesus had told the disciples about this before, and the first time he did, they got really upset. They said, no, no, no, the Messiah will never die, and then the second time he told them, they were sorrowful and grieved, and this instance he tells them, two days from now I'm going to die. If one of your best friends told you that, how would you react? None of the scriptures telling this story give any reaction from his disciples. It was like, so what? We've heard this before. How hard would it be if you told one of your best friends you were going to die, and they said nothing, just didn't even react? Now we don't know exactly what they did, but the scripture gives us no indication of their reaction. The next story that takes place is the story of Jesus who goes to a meal with family. He's laying down as the normal pattern to be able to eat, and he's just gone from this experience of telling his disciples he's going to die in two days, and perhaps he received no affirmation from them, but here a lady comes in with a bottle of perfume, and she breaks it and pours it over Jesus' head, anointing him. Well over $1,000 worth of perfume. Jesus understood that it was the Father, God the Father, who was anointing him for his burial, was saying to him, I have not forgotten you, only others may, but I know how hard this is for you, and as Jesus was feeling the affirmation from the Father and the joy of his circumstance being recognized, he hears then his disciples talking, and they're saying, can you believe that woman came in here and wasted all that money pouring that perfume all over Jesus? Why, I just think what we could have done with that money. We could have fed the poor people who are coming to town. Instead of his disciples being excited that someone recognized his circumstance, they were even critical of someone who gave him a little bit of affirmation and encouragement. Immediately following this story, Matthew tells us that Judas, one of the twelve who was there who actually started this debate about whether or not Jesus should have received this honor, this Judas had gone to the people who were planning to kill Jesus and said, I'll help you. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where it appears one of your best friends turns against you, seems to join people who are critical of you and trying to hurt you. There's no pain that comes more than to know someone that's been a part of your life. Jesus went with Judas 24 hours a day for three years so far as we know, and now here he is saying I'll help you get him. You can kill him if you want to, just pay me. Now Jesus knew this. In the very next story in this chapter, Jesus is gathered with all the twelve, Judas included, at the Lord's Supper. What's it like whenever someone you know has really turned against you? You don't want to be around them, you know? It's hard for you to control your voice when you talk to them or about them. There's that edge that comes to us, you know, lets us know and everyone around that you're irritated by them or you don't like them and you don't want to address them. All through the Lord's Supper, not a single person could detect that there was anything between Jesus and Judas. He said to them, one of you here is going to betray me. Each one of them said, is it me, is it me? They looked around and no one said, we can tell Jesus doesn't seem to like Judas, it must be him. So under control was Jesus with his own feelings and emotions, but you know they had to be there if he was human. He served the meal and then he said, one of you is going to betray me. Then he told them that my body is given to you like this bread, broken in pieces and given to you. I'm going to give everything for you guys and this drink is like my blood for the forgiveness of your sins. I'm paying the price, the ultimate price for each of you. I want to give you everything that I have to give you. Even though they hadn't been supportive, even though they hadn't been encouraging, even though one of them was going to betray him, Jesus was giving everything for them. What we normally want to do when people are angry with us and they're bad to us is we want to withdraw, simply run away. After the supper was over, Jesus said to the guys, now the hardest time is going to come for you, always thinking of other people, the hardest time is going to come for you before this night is over and I want you to be alarmed that each one of you is going to betray me. Instead of listening to Jesus as if he was their teacher, they said to him, you don't know what you're talking about. We're not going to betray you. Each one of them said, well, we'll never do that. We would die before we would betray you. Jesus knew what was going to happen to them, but arrogant like many people are, they weren't willing to listen, they weren't willing to be taught. Have you ever tried to help someone and no matter how much you try to help them, they just ignore you? I mean, it's a serious thing that you're trying to help them with, but no matter how good your motive, no matter how much you want to, they just pay no attention to you as if you didn't even matter. And then, in verse 36, Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to them, sit here while I go over there and pray. This is the eight of them now, and he took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, along with him and began to be sorrowful and troubled. And he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed and sorrow to the point of death. Stay here. Keep watch with me. Going a little further, 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. What did Jesus do in the most difficult and painful time in his entire life? Jesus gives us an idea about how to handle the disasters that come to us. I mean, the really, really big things. Here in this setting, he takes with him the people who knew him most, who he could trust, the eleven. He took them out to the place where they could get alone and they could pray without interruption, the Garden of Gethsemane, probably a grove of olive trees. There he said to the eight, I'm going through this difficult time, but I've already told you about the death coming and soon. I want you to pray with me. But there were three guys in this group that Jesus spent a lot of time with. They were with him through all the difficulties. He said special occasions with them, and he really, really trusted these three. And he took these three people apart and he began to pour out his heart to them. He opened his life to them in a way that he had never opened to anyone else, and you don't find many places where Jesus talks about his feelings, what's going on inside of him. Look at these words, powerful words. Jesus began, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. In front of his own friends, he let it be known that he was having a difficult time. Sorrowful means to grieve, means to be distressed, it means to be anxious. He revealed to these three of his friends what was inside of himself, the pain that he was feeling. He was troubled. He knew what was coming. He didn't know everything in the future. Jesus didn't seem to know everything like he would when he was in heaven or before he came to earth. He knew there were choices he had to make. He knew there were suffering that he was going through. He knew there were issues that would be brought to him. He knew that people would be attacking him. How would he handle all this? You know what it's like to be troubled about something. You know it's out there, and you know it's big, and you know you have to deal with it, but you're not quite sure how you're going to deal with it. Jesus was troubled. Then the scripture says, Jesus said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. My soul, his spiritual nature, was overwhelmed with sorrow. Now we don't often think of Jesus under this circumstance. You think of Jesus as living in the world, having all the answers, knowing everything to do, being confident about everything. We all know what it's like to be overwhelmed. You have so many things to do, so many choices to make, so many decisions to face, that all of a sudden when you look in the future, it seems too much. Jesus looked at his future, and it was too much. You know what that feels like. Where do you go? What do you do? Then it says, not only was he overwhelmed with sorrow, but he was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Now we use phrases like this, like we're worried to death, like we're scared to death. It means that we face these emotions of fear and scare that are so powerful that it would be better for us, we feel, to simply die. This is depression. What the Bible tells us about Jesus at this time was he was facing depression. Overwhelming choices he didn't know what to do about. Circumstances that were so powerful and forceful to him that he was worried to death, he was anxious to death, his sorrow was so great that he wished he could just get out of it and die. Now no one thinks that Jesus was trying to commit suicide. When you say you're scared to death, you don't mean you're going to kill yourself. What you mean is, this is the ultimate fear that I can experience, as death is the ultimate experience of a human being. Jesus is going through the most tragic, painful, and difficult crisis of his life. Now we have here an example as to how a follower of Christ is to handle the disasters that come to us. In the beginning when Jesus started out with this, he had reason to have all these fears. He wouldn't have any support, no encouragement from the human beings that are around him. The future he knew was going to be difficult and painful, the most painful death that a human being could experience. He knew all these things around him and he was alone. His disciples weren't very helpful to him. He didn't complain about them. He didn't get mad at them. A lot of people do that, you know, they go into a hard time, they get mad at the church because nobody called them enough and nobody came by to see them. They put the burden of fixing their problems on someone else. Jesus gives us a perfect example of what we're to do. When you're going through those times, you pick up the phone and call somebody and you tell them, I need you to pray for me. You don't depend on others to step in and have by some kind of magic way figure out that you're having a depressing day or difficult time. When you're going through the worst days in your life, the burden of responsibility falls to you. Find out in your life who those people are that you trust spiritually and call them and ask them to pray for you. Now, some people you know, you know them a little bit and you know them kind of well and you can say, would you please pray for me, I'm going through a difficult time. That's what Jesus did with the eight, but he took three aside, people he built special relationships with. Here's a clue for you. In your Christian walk, you should be building relationships with people you know very, very well. You've prayed with them, you've talked with them, they've had some history and experience with them. They know what you're like and they know you and you know them and you know that they really do care for you. Jesus had three of them. He took those three aside and then he began to tell the details of his pain and struggle. He began to tell them about his depression and discouragement, about his fear of the future, all the things that were going to happen to him, about how overwhelmed he was with all the things that were going to take place and how frightened he was about what was going to, the choices he had to make. He poured out all of this to his very close friends. Now, you should have friends like that. Around you in the church are people who you can go to like that. I hear a lot of people say, well, I don't need to go to church. I can worship with God out on the creek bank. Well, try to get the fish out there to pray for you. It's a pretty difficult job, but when you're in relationships with people and they know you and you know they care about you, that's who you go to. You look at those people and you say, here is my heart. You pour it out to them, not in blind ways, but you tell them exactly what you're going through so they will know the struggle that's in your life. That's what Jesus did. And then you say, pray for me. The scripture then tells us that Jesus left the three. He didn't have a group prayer meeting with them. He left the three and he went off by himself and he fell on the ground face first. What Jesus did was he came to confront the father himself with his own need. It's a wonderful thing to have some people who are praying for you. Wonderful thing to have three people who really know your problems and they're praying for you. But where you have to go when you have these overwhelming problems is the very foot of the throne of God. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but sometimes whenever I felt so overwhelmed with the things I faced and choices I had to make and maybe with my own behavior and my own failure to live up to my expectations of what God wanted for me, there are just times it's so overwhelming sometimes I wake up in the night and just think of all the things that I needed to do or done wrong or whatever else it is. Nothing would be complete except to go and pray. And it felt too arrogant to sit and pray. It really felt wrong to kneel and pray. The only thing that felt right was just to lay flat on the ground and pour out my heart to God. This is what Jesus did. He told God of his confusion. He told God of his troubles about the choices he was going to have to make. We don't know the content of his prayer. He just told us that his life, his soul was overwhelmed. He told him about all the things, I'm sure, that overwhelmed him. He told about his fear. Poured his heart out to the Father. Sometimes when you're praying like that, stretched out on the floor, confessing your sins, Jesus didn't have to do that. When I have those experiences, I've got a lot of sin to confess, so I'm giving all that up and talking to God about the problems as well. He lay face down on the ground and he poured out his heart to God. I'm sure he not only prayed, but he cried. That's the way it is when you're in front of God and you're needing something desperately from him. So that's what Jesus taught us to do. You go to the very presence of the one who can really help you and you say, here is my need. Help me. Then something happened that's a little bit strange, maybe, sounding to us. Jesus said, my Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. When Mark tells this story, he phrases Jesus' beginning prayer a little differently. He says in his prayer, Father, I know that all things are possible for you. So would you remove this cup from me? Now, get a picture of all this that's taken place. Jesus had already known from the beginning what was going to happen to him and he'd faced this issue before. In fact, whenever he first began his ministry, he went out to the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights where the Father talked to him about all that was going to be taking place and telling him how he would have to live and eventually die. We know that because Satan came to him after that time was over. Forty days and nights he hadn't eaten or drank anything. And Satan started tempting him, saying, take care of yourself. If you're going to be a son of God, you've got to be able to live. Here's some rocks, turn them into bread. And every temptation that Satan gave Jesus was a way by which he could fulfill the purpose and mission that the Father had to be the Messiah without the pain and suffering. I've got a better deal for you, Satan said. You can still be the Messiah and the Son of God without dying. Here's one of them. Kneel in front of me, acknowledge my authority, and I will give up my power over the world. Well, what God really wanted was to get the power away from Satan and here's a simple way to get it done. All he had to do was kneel. But he remembered, the Father told him, this is not the way it's supposed to be. But you know what Jesus was doing then? He was looking ahead at a time he didn't know exactly when, saying, someday in the future, I'm going to have to die. But not today. Boy, it's easy to promise to someone, boy, when the time comes, I'll stand by you no matter what, so long as there's no big problem right then. Jesus now was faced with the cross the next day. It wasn't a promise in the future or a threat in the future. It was real. It's harder, you know, when you're looking in the face of your problem and it's right now and you can't get away from it than when it's a theory somewhere out in the future. Jesus was wracked with difficulty. He said to the Father, I trust you enough to know you have all power and authority in the world. And even though this has been your plan, and you've told me what it is, I believe that all authority is given to you and you can change the plan. And this is astonishing prayer. From the very beginning of the time of Adam and Eve in the garden, God has been planning this redemption of mankind. Jesus gets to the last day and he says, Father, I know that you can, you have all power and authority and all wisdom, you can change this, you can do something different. I don't have to face it. He was asking the Father to change his mind, to do something different. And in Mark's account of this, he says, I believe you have the power and authority to do it. Now in the middle of your great crisis, you can ask God anything you want. You can say, God, I want you to remove the people that are giving me trouble. You say, I can give me the strength, you give me the money, whatever it is that you're dealing with. Ask God to change the circumstances in which you live. You have perfect freedom to do that and you should. Follow Jesus' example. Here are all my problems, Lord. I give you these. Here's what I ask you to do about this one. Here's what I ask you to do about that one. You can do all of those things. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong in your depression to ask for God to give you answers and remedies. Paul told us in his own life of a circumstance he had where he had some kind of trouble, physical problem in his own life. He went to God and asked God to remove it. Remove this thorn from my flesh, he called it. He thought that God could do this, real healing. He believed God had the power to do it because Paul had seen people healed of circumstances maybe worse than his own. So he went to the Father honestly saying, I believe you can do this for me. But he said, I ask over and over again. And finally the Father said to me, No, I'm not going to do it. Even though I could, I'm not going to do it. Because what I want to show you is that even though you think you can't be effective in your ministry for me with this problem in your body, I'm going to show you that my grace is enough that you can continue to be faithful in doing what I've asked you to do with your problem. I'm going to show you the majesty and greatness of my power through this event. So I'm not going to answer your prayer that way. Instead what I'll do is I'll give you the ability and the strength to face your problem and overcome it. Trust me. This is what happened to Jesus. He asked that the Father would change the plans so he wouldn't have to die on the cross. He believed the Father could do it. But the Father said, No. This is the way it must be done. Jesus was already prepared for the answer that would come because he said, Not what I've asked or my will but what you will may it be done. This is the prayer that God asks every believer to pray in the time of your most difficult trials. Not my will but yours. What this is is the confession of our genuine trust in God. I can trust you, God, if you will do the things that I think are best for my life so that it'll work out like I think that it should. Imagine this prayer. Now you can request it as boldly as you want to but you must always remember that he is the Lord and you are his servant. So you pour your heart out and you request God to change the circumstances of your life and the future that you face but you say to him Lord, whatever you do, I will trust you. I will have absolute confidence that you're going to take care of me. Every time we end up with these times of depression, discouragement, or overwhelming fears or anxieties we must always come back to believe that the Father loves us enough to work that out. The story later goes on to talk about what Jesus did when he was all over. He got up and just kept doing what he was supposed to do. He let the course of events take their place. If you will just flip past this chapter and start reading about Jesus and the crucifixion you will never be able to tell that he had this agonizing night in Gethsemane. They brought him in and they tried him. He never complained. He seemed perfectly calm. They beat him. He didn't complain about that. He didn't get upset. They beat him until the blood was running. Stuck a crown of thorns on his head. He was a perfect case of a man at peace with himself. Not sorrowful. Not troubled. Not unsure. They took him out to the cross tied him to the cross He never complained. He took it. He was so conscious and alert to what was going on that when the people around him thieves were troubled he witnessed to them to lead them to trust himself and to promise them eternal life. From the most desperate hole in the ground Jesus came to the model of peace to the model of comfort to this model of the man who died on the cross. See what the Bible is teaching us is that God has the power to do things in our life that no one else can ever do. And the remedy is very simple for you. You are going to have the times of depression. You just are. Jesus had them. No one here is better than Jesus. We are going to have them. You will face times when you are overwhelmed. You don't know what to do. You feel like everything is crashing in on you. You are going to have those times. You are going to have the times when you are troubled and you think of all the choices you have and you don't know which ones to make. And there are times whenever you think I can't go on. I am overwhelmed with this Get out of this world. Escape in some way. They are going to be there. Jesus had them. But here we show Jesus in his kindness opened his own mind and heart to us to say let me show you what to do. Find some friends who know how to pray. Ask them to pray for you. Find your closest friends. Pour out your anxieties and your cares to them and ask them to pray. And then you come before the Lord flat on the ground pouring your heart out to him telling them everything that is wrong with you. All the problems that you face. The things that you don't know what to do about. How inadequate you feel about all of that. And then you can ask God to do anything you want him to do. But in the end you stop and say that I believe God that you know what's best for me and the whole world and whatever you choose I will joyfully and faithfully do. And then in the middle of all this what you will find is the wisdom of God helps you with your choices. The power of God helps you to face the things that you could not face without it. The strength of God allows you to go through things that are unbelievable. And if you've seen the movie of the death of Jesus you know how painful that was. But here from a man who thought I can't go on was a man who endured a living hell with peace solemnly with victory. What Jesus describes for us here in this story is how we live this life of obedience to the Father through the deepest and darkest times of our lives. Jesus had people he could depend on. He still needs that. He needs each of us to be friends to the people who are around us. The people in your Sunday school class. The people in your small group. He needs us to be the kind of people that someone could come and say I want you to pray for me and we would not only say yes I'll pray for you but we would do it. He needs all of us to find some people that we can trust with the deepest, darkest secrets of our lives. And we can sit down with them and tell them the uncertainty, insecurities and pain that we feel and so they'll know how to pray for us specifically and concretely. And he needs us to be people who fall on our face before God and say God whatever you want from me I will accept it and trust you. That's what God needed. God still needs that for his people here. I don't think there's any greater example of men of what God wants us to be as men. This was not the women who had a prayer meeting that day it was the men. I read a thing this last week that said women are far more religious and faithful and reliable than men are spiritually. I wasn't hearing this story. When Jesus needed someone he had men he could count on. We have a lot of faithful women in our church who are working hard to help us do the things we need to do. And all of us as men need to step up. No, we don't need to take somebody else's job, we need to do the things we know God wants us to do. And I want to ask you to think in your mind God is my life exactly what you want it to be? Is there anything in my life that you'd want to be different? You're the only one that knows that answer that will come to you. But I will promise you this whatever God brought to your mind is going to be hard. He needs us to man up they say in human language and say I don't care what people think I don't care how hard it is I don't care what it takes I'm going to be faithful. To be faithful to God is difficult because it means that you do what he asks you to do regardless of the apparent consequences. Sometimes for guys that's a little difficult because it's easier for us to fix a toilet than it is to share our faith with someone else. It's easier for us to paint the side of a building than it is for us to go into the home of a stranger we've never met and say we're glad that you came to our church. But what God needs are people who trust him enough to say there is no limit in my life to what I give to you. I feel led this morning to invite you who are men here to search your heart to ask yourself if Jesus needed help would he come to you? Would you be one of the eight that he would say now I don't trust you that much but I'll tell you pray for me because I know you'll do a little. Would you be one of those three guys that he would say to you I know I can trust you with everything I'm going to pour my heart out to you. There are families in our church who come that men are not in that family attending and they need help they need men to build relationships to encourage and support God is looking for people from the day of Jesus to this one who are willing to say not my will but yours be done. Would you bow your heads please? I'm always hesitant to ask people to do something that they don't mean to do but I want to open the opportunity I'd like to simply ask you ladies to play the invitation hymn not sing it just remain seated with your eyes closed if God has said to you men or women here is something I want from you you haven't given me I'd like you to think of yourself as one of those twelve people can he trust you and depend on you? If you feel like you're ready to make a promise to God that you're going to be one of those three I'd like you to do that now you may feel like you need to come and kneel at the front and just say to God I want to make this promise to you I don't care what people think I want you to know I'm on your side you know that God is telling you to do this if you feel like you should you've got to decide when he says come with me I want you to help what you're going to say you you you you would you stand please for a moment of benediction we've lived you through life father with the joy of knowing you as our savior walking with you through the times of joy and excitement we also walk with you in times of uncertainty pain and sorrow we're so thankful to you for giving us your remedy for the depression and disaster that just ordinary life brings teach us to trust you as Jesus did and to be reliable as Jesus' friends were in the name of Christ we ask this amen one announcement before we sing our closing hymn and again it's about Vacation Bible School next Sunday after church we're going to have pita pita for our PBS workers so if you have volunteered to do something for Vacation Bible School we'd like you to come after church next Sunday for pita and learn about the theme of Vacation Bible School this year and also teachers there are some request forms out front start picking up those this week and filling them out so we can start asking for the supplies so thank you let's sing something beautiful something good all my confusion he understood all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife but he made something beautiful of my life have a beautiful week