On Prayer: Gethsemane
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: The end goal of prayer is coming into perfect submission and agreement with the will of God.
In our Hearts
In our Minds
In our Actions
In our Hearts
The point of a life of prayer is to get to the place where, like Christ, we say “Not my will, but yours be done.”
Leading up to Gethsemane, Jesus was able to walk through a high moment that we recognize during Palm Sunday.
Matthew 26:36-46 ESV
”Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."“
On the eve of the biggest decision that Jesus would ever make, holding the fate of the world in his hands, he went to pray.
Jesus’ disciples were with him, but he took his inner circle even further to the place where he would bear his soul.
May it be that we would desire to be so intimate with Christ that he would bear his soul regarding the world today with us.
Don’t try to be a spiritual cowboy or hero.
People spin out way more often than we’d like to admit in the name of being spiritual, when really what they’re being is simply unaccountable in their independence.
It said that Jesus “went a little farther” to pray.
You need to stay close enough to your godly support, even while in prayer, that you can have accountability to stay on the straight and narrow.
Jesus took with him three of his closest companions in Kingdom affairs, for support for his troubled soul, imploring them to keep watch with him.
Sometimes the will of God can feel like death to our souls.
This is the essence of the cross, of which Jesus already warned,
Mark 8:31-38 ESV
”And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."“
Matthew 16:24-27 ESV
”Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.“
Luke 9:21-26 ESV
”And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." 23 And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.“
When has the will of God felt like death to your soul?
Have you avoided it or embraced it?
Though they helped Jesus to keep watch, they could not pray for him or make the decision that Jesus would have to make.
Jesus fell on his face and prayed.
Jesus appealed to his Heavenly Father who he knew loved him and had what was best for Christ and the whole world in mind.
Jesus prostrated himself as an ultimate act of humility saying, Father, you are in charge.
Jesus began with ultimate honesty realizing the task at hand and admitting that he did not want to do it.
He asked the Father for another way to accomplish his will, if possible, but acquiesced in deference to the Father’s plan and will saying, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
Papa knows best
The difficult part reconciling with the will of God in our hearts is trusting, as Christ did, even as he acknowledged:
Mark 14:36 ESV
”And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."“
“God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows.”
-Timothy Keller
In our Minds
When we submit to the plan of God, we are fortified to do his will.
We need to be fortified in prayer to do the will of God, especially when a cross is involved.
Jesus came back and found Peter, James and John sleeping.
How often have we fallen asleep from sorrow or while having to wait on God?
Be warned, we can fall asleep at the most critical hour in our walk with God.
Mercifully, Jesus comes to wake them up and reminds them to watch and pray.
Jesus reminds them to, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
The answer to a holy, set apart life where God is fulfilling his purposes in you and through you is one where you don’t just agree that Jesus is who he said he is, but you are staying awake, watching and praying that you might not fall into temptation and be pulled off the path.
Judas, who walked with Jesus, is an example of this and we’ll speak more about him next week.
“Prayer is the only entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change—the reordering of our loves. Prayer is how God gives us so many of the unimaginable things he has for us. Indeed, prayer makes it safe for God to give us many of the things we most desire. It is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God. Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life.”
-Timothy Keller
How is the spirit willing but the flesh weak in your life?
When have you failed to watch and pray?
What has it produced in your life?
“The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray.”
-AW Towzer
Sometimes, submitting to the will of God is a process.
Jesus went a second time to the Father, saying,
"My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done."
Resigning to his ultimate destiny at the cross to sacrifice himself to pay for the sins of humanity, Jesus reaffirms the point of his and all of our lives - that God’s will would be done.
*Have no doubt about it - God’s will for your life will always come with a cross to bear.
The good news is, just like with Christ, the is resurrection and eternal reward on the other side.
Are you in pursuit of God’s will for your life, even as it comes with a cross to bear?
How could you easily escape that will?
How could you choose something different?
Do you have a heart to have God’s will in your life done above your own or anyone else’s?
Jesus comes back and finds his support sleeping two more times.
Mark 14:40,41
And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.“
You have to get to a point in your life when you are so locked into God that you are going to press on, despite what family members, friends or even co-laborers are doing around you.
Matthew 26:44
So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
Pray until you are convinced.
*There are times when you have to keep going back to prayer to BUILD YOUR CONVICTION so that you can follow through on the will of God.
Matthew 26:45,46
Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."“
This is the mark of a true spiritual leader.
Once Jesus established his conviction, he was able to go back to the disciples and mobilize them for the hour at hand.
Through prayer, Jesus was able to gain the fortitude to become, through action, the savior of the world.
In our Actions
When we submit to the will of God, we order our lives accordingly.
*Submission to the will of God is the victory, the end result because you are doing your part in seeing God redeeming and making all things right in the end.
No matter how many times you stumble, you go again to prayer, that the transforming work of Jesus, including your complete freedom, might be fully be realized in your life.
This applies to your struggles within and in regards to your struggles with people without.
“It is hard to stay angry at someone if you are praying for them. It is also hard to stay angry unless you feel superior, and it is hard to feel superior if you are praying for them, since in prayer you approach God as a forgiven sinner.”
-Timothy Keller
Luke 22:43-46
And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."“
Not if, but when things get difficult/hard as you attempt to do the will of God, the answer to getting through is prayer.
After living blamelessly, Jesus would sacrificially go to the cross, to fulfill the Scriptures so that anyone who would repent of their rebellion and put their trust in his atoning work would receive the gift of eternal life by his resurrection from the dead.
Let’s go to him daily, bearing our cross, so that we might receive his eternal reward as we submit to his perfect will.
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher