As I sat within the quiet walls of a dimly lit chapel, the weight of my own struggles began to echo the agony once felt in Gethsemane's moonlit garden. This episode invites you to walk with me through Jesus' most vulnerable hours before His crucifixion, where His dual nature—both divine and human—was stretched to unparalleled depths of suffering. We journey through this somber narrative not only as a biblical account but as a touchpoint for our own lives, understanding how Christ's ordeal underscores the very real struggles we face today. A prayer for spiritual attentiveness opens our hearts to the episode's profound reflection, encouraging a steadfast focus on faith amidst life's relentless distractions.
This conversation extends beyond theology, evolving into a personal exploration of how Jesus' unmatched act of love and obedience, despite knowing the severe pain that awaited Him, offers us a model for facing our own trials. We examine the contrast between Adam's failure and Christ's perfect love, as illuminated by Jonathan Edwards in "Christ's Agony." I share candidly about the challenges within vocational ministry, drawing parallels to the sacrifices we're called to make, inspired by the depth of Christ's love. This episode delves into the visceral humanity of Jesus' sacrifice, inviting listeners to connect their personal hardships with His enduring strength and commitment.
In our final discussion, we grapple with the perplexing issue of why a loving God permits suffering and evil. With insights from theologians who confront this age-old dilemma, we consider how Christ's own embodiment of pain offers a divine perspective that refutes the notion of God's indifference. The importance of community, prayer, and unwavering trust in God's plan is underscored, even when it defies our understanding. As we conclude, I extend an invitation to fellowship, reinforcing the podcast's message of faith and support through the trials of life. Join us for an introspective episode that seeks to fortify your soul and shine light on the comforting presence of a God who knows suffering all too well.
As I sat within the quiet walls of a dimly lit chapel, the weight of my own struggles began to echo the agony once felt in Gethsemane's moonlit garden. This episode invites you to walk with me through Jesus' most vulnerable hours before His crucifixion, where His dual nature—both divine and human—was stretched to unparalleled depths of suffering. We journey through this somber narrative not only as a biblical account but as a touchpoint for our own lives, understanding how Christ's ordeal underscores the very real struggles we face today. A prayer for spiritual attentiveness opens our hearts to the episode's profound reflection, encouraging a steadfast focus on faith amidst life's relentless distractions.
This conversation extends beyond theology, evolving into a personal exploration of how Jesus' unmatched act of love and obedience, despite knowing the severe pain that awaited Him, offers us a model for facing our own trials. We examine the contrast between Adam's failure and Christ's perfect love, as illuminated by Jonathan Edwards in "Christ's Agony." I share candidly about the challenges within vocational ministry, drawing parallels to the sacrifices we're called to make, inspired by the depth of Christ's love. This episode delves into the visceral humanity of Jesus' sacrifice, inviting listeners to connect their personal hardships with His enduring strength and commitment.
In our final discussion, we grapple with the perplexing issue of why a loving God permits suffering and evil. With insights from theologians who confront this age-old dilemma, we consider how Christ's own embodiment of pain offers a divine perspective that refutes the notion of God's indifference. The importance of community, prayer, and unwavering trust in God's plan is underscored, even when it defies our understanding. As we conclude, I extend an invitation to fellowship, reinforcing the podcast's message of faith and support through the trials of life. Join us for an introspective episode that seeks to fortify your soul and shine light on the comforting presence of a God who knows suffering all too well.
The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky. We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.
Speaker 2:If you have a Bible, please go with me to the book of Matthew, chapter 26, and we're going to begin reading in verse 36.
Speaker 2:If, you haven't say amen. The word of God says this. 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 unto death. Remain here and watch with me.
Speaker 2:Going a little further, 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 he 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. And again, the second time, he went and he 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 and he prayed for a third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them sleep and take your rest later on.
Speaker 2: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 word of the Lord. Let me pray before your seated God. We thank you for your word. What a privilege it is to be able to read and to learn. We thank you for your spirit, who empowers us to do what we read and learn. Lord, today I pray that I would preach under your anointing, that I would preach with unction, that I would preach not with just the words of man, but with the power of the Holy Spirit. And Lord, I know there are many things, even today, that are vying for our attentions, but I pray that a cell phone this morning wouldn't distract us from hearing these beautiful words of Scripture. I pray that no distraction. I pray that our minds would not wonder to thinking about what we're going to have for lunch today or what we're going to be doing this evening or the work week ahead. God, let us just be focused, as you said to the disciples, as Jesus said, can you not just watch and pray one hour? Can we not just listen and receive and meditate upon your word for one hour? Help us, o Lord, in this name, we pray. In the good name of Jesus, amen, you may be seated. Well, at this point in our journey through the book of Matthew, jesus has finished his final discourse, his final sermon. If you will, he has eaten his final meal with the disciples In the episode that we find ourselves in today, the Garden of Gethsemane. This scene takes place mere hours before Jesus will be crucified.
Speaker 2:Throughout our journey through the book of Matthew, we have seen much evidence that points to what we might call the divinity of Jesus. You think about it. Think about his sinless life as he resisted temptation. Think about his power over sickness, and how many people throughout the Gospel of Matthew that we read about that he healed so many, a myriad of diseases, even open blind eyes. He had power over death, remember, he raised dead people to life. We saw through Matthew that Jesus doesn't just have power over the physical realm, but he has power over the spiritual realm, casting out demons. And not only that, he also has power over the natural realm, the elements, as it were. Remember, he calmed the winds and the waves with just a word. And we saw through his divinity that, oh, jesus even has the power to forgive sins. He is divine. Jesus is not just the Son of God, he is God, the Son, amen. So we see this. But in today's text we see quite forcibly the other side of Jesus, the humanity of Jesus. Not only was Jesus fully divine, he was fully human and is fully human and is fully divine. Jesus is not a demigod, he is not half man, half God, he is fully God, fully man.
Speaker 2:When I first started prepping for this message, I had planned on talking about the anxiety that Jesus experienced in the garden as he prayed. Certainly his heart was anxious and I thought well, this will be an easy sermon, because so many of us deal with anxiety and this will be so practical and helpful. And as I began praying through the text and meditating on the text, I began to see that talking about anxiety will not do this text justice. To be sure, jesus is anxious in the text, but oh, there's much more than anxiety here. There is agony, there is agony. And, as a matter of fact, when you read Luke's account of this same story Luke 22, and I believe it's verse 36, luke says that Jesus was in fact agonized, so much so and Luke's account says what that remember the story that he began to sweat like large drops of blood. Beloved, that's more than anxiety, that is agony.
Speaker 2:And so, when we consider the agony that Jesus experienced that night, here's what we know we know that Jesus entered fully into the human condition, the worst of humanity yet, without sin. Because you might think about the cross and you might think about the torture that Jesus went through and you might be tempted to think well, he was God. It may not have been as bad as if we were in that position. Oh, beloved, don't think that for a moment. Because he experienced that truly as a human, 100% human, 100% God, yes, but he felt every ounce of torment, in pain, and I will argue that he suffered in these final hours of his life greater than any of us will ever suffer. He entered fully into the human condition.
Speaker 2:So here's my aim today, as we study the text I hope that one will have a better understanding of the cost of Calvary, of the better understanding of the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf, and I pray that our love for him would only intensify and that our dedication to him would only grow. I hope that you leave the building today and that I leave the building today going. Oh, what a savior. I want to serve him with every minute of my time, every second of my day. I want to live for his glory, even in my eating and drinking. I want to do all through the glory of God. So that's one but number two. I realize today that there are some of you who are in agony. You're experiencing some level of suffering, and I think that Jesus can serve. I think this text will certainly help us in navigating our own seasons of agony. If you're not there, you will be at some point in your Christian life. That's life.
Speaker 2:I want to begin by answering this question why is Christ in such a state of agony in Gethsemane? Why this level of agony? Look at verse 39 in our text. I think this gives us the clue as to why this level of agony. Going a little further, jesus fell on his face and he prayed my father, if it be possible, let this cup. Let this cup pass from me, let this cup pass from me. Here's a simple answer, and I'm going to unpack this.
Speaker 2:But why such agony in the garden? Well, it's because Jesus is quite aware of the cup of suffering that he's about to drink. It's quite aware One. That means that Jesus is quite aware of the physical pain that is about to come upon him. He knows his death is imminent. But not only does Jesus know that his death is near, he doesn't just know the timing, he knows how he is going to die. And we know this because just verses before, in chapter 6, verse 26, verse 2, jesus says I'm going to be taken to be crucified.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be crucified, jesus and his disciples, they are quite aware of what's involved in the Roman practice of crucifixion, quite aware Before Jesus would even be nailed to a cross. This was the Roman practice. He knew that he would be beaten, he would be stripped, he would be mocked, spat on, flogged, he would receive a crown of thorns that would mockingly be put upon his precious head, pressed into his head, and blood would begin to drip. And if that were not enough, they would take a scepter and they would whack him on the head so that the thorns would go deeper. Oh, the physical pain, jesus knows is going to be agonizing For the floggings, the Romans.
Speaker 2:I think I have a picture of this that they would use. This whip called the cat of nine tails, nine strips of leather on the end would be these kind of lead balls that would be full of shards of glass, in bone, in stone, in Jesus, over and over and over again, would have his precious butt whipped. And you know the blow, each blow would be horrific, but it's the pulling the big whip back that would be even greater. Scholars and historians tell us that it's likely that when Jesus was whipped, that the leather strips would have actually come around to his torso and they would pull it back as forcefully as possible and flesh would be ripped from his bones. And if the blows then were not painful enough, all of this, he would have to carry his own cross to Calvary until his body would collapse under the weight of it from exhaustion.
Speaker 2:This was all prophesied Isaiah 52, 13, and 14,. I think I have this verse on the screen. Behold my servant. This is a messianic prophecy. My servant shall act wisely, the Lord says. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind Beloved. The pictures that you see of Jesus hanging on a cross do not do it justice. The closest might be the Passion of the Christ, but even that doesn't do it justice.
Speaker 2:Vizaya's prophecy is true, and I believe it is Jesus would be not just unrecognizable that hey, this is Jesus, even that he's a human being because he's so marred. He'd be hung on that cross and nails driven into his hands and feet where he would die, and excruciating death. This is not just death, this is torture. This is before Jesus' day. One historian called crucifixion the most cruel and disgusting penalty. Josephus, first century historian, referred to crucifixion as the most wretched of death. So in the garden, jesus no doubt began to taste the torture that awaited him. But here's the question I want to pose this morning Is the prospect of physical pain enough in the garden to cause Jesus this level of agony, not to diminish that part of his agony? I would argue that no. That's not all that's going on here.
Speaker 2:It's interesting that we read throughout the New Testament of martyrs like Stephen and Paul and all throughout history. We can look back at the Fox's Book of Martyrs Fox's Book of Martyrs, excuse me and we can see testimony after testimony after testimony. Well, with Christians die horrendous, painful deaths being skinned alive or burned alive and in words. But yet story after story tells us that they have this unique and unexplainable calmness about them. So why is Jesus here, facing this death in with such agony?
Speaker 2:The clue, again, is verse 39, three times Jesus prays that the cup would be removed, the cup. Verse 39 again my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Verse 42, again, he says he prayed. My father, if this cannot pass, unless I drink it, drink what the cup, you will be done. And then again verse 44, he prayed a third time, saying the same words again.
Speaker 2:What is the significance of the cup metaphor? Well, jesus was quite familiar with the Old Testament and the Old Testament there's this metaphor of the cup that signifies the wrath of God and punishment of sin. That's what the cup is in the Old Testament. Let me just give you a couple of texts here. Psalm 11, five and six says this the Lord test the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked fire, and sulfur and scorching wind shall be the portion of what their cup. Jeremiah 25, 15 and 16, that says the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me take from my hand this cup of wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them. You get the metaphor this cup of wrath makes a person stagger and act crazy out of their mind. It is a poison that will ruin the one who drinks it.
Speaker 2:Second, corinthians 521 says that for our sake, god made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. God did not make Jesus sin by putting a sinful nature upon him. Jesus never sinned. But here's what God did he put the punishment for our sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So you know what Jesus did at Calvary. You know what this is the cup that was before him in the garden. It was the cup of God's wrath. He knew that he was about to drink or he would be punished for our sin.
Speaker 2:In 2 Thessalonians 1-9, paul writes about the judgment that will come upon those who afflict God's people, and here's what he writes. He says they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his mind. Those who experience God's wrath. There's something much worse that they will have to endure than physical pain, and that is the absence of the presence of God eternally. And here's what Jesus is about to drink. This has been in a perfect relationship with God from all of eternity, from eternity past. He's now in the garden and he's getting a taste of God's wrath, a cup of wrath that's before him and within hours he knows he'll cry out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it's this cup beloved that brings Christ agony, that he would be forsaken so that we could not be forsaken. So what's the purpose of this agony in the garden? You know, why would God allow Jesus to experience in his last moments, the agony of knowing what is before him? I mean, imagine that somebody is on their death bed and you go into them and let's say it's a day or two, they're supposed to die, and you just start explaining how horribly painful their death is going to be. That would be cruel, right. So why not give Jesus one more moment of peace and serenity in the garden? There's a purpose for that. This is powerful. Why not hide the horrors that are to come?
Speaker 2:Jonathan Edwards was a 18th century American preacher and he has a famous message titled Christ's Agony, and it's on the internet if you want to find that later readily available. And he said that Jesus, in the garden was brought to the mouth of the fiery furnace that was much worse than Nebuchadnezzar's, that he could, in the garden, feel the scorching heat of the flames and see the glow of the fire. And here's what he says in this sermon. We're going to put this on the screen. We have it.
Speaker 2:If Christ had not fully known what the dreadfulness of these sufferings was before he took them upon him, his taking them upon him could not have been fully his own act as a man. There could have been no explicit act of his will about that which he was ignorant of. But when he had seen what they were, by having an extraordinary view given him of them and then undertaken to endure them afterwards, then he acted as knowing what he did. Then his taking that cup and bearing such dreadful sufferings was properly his own act, by an explicit choice. And here it is. And so his love to sinners in that choice of his was the more wonderful, as also his obedience to God in it. What's he saying? During a seminary, jesus is able to taste of the wrath that's to come. He's got a choice. Am I going to leave the garden or am I going to submit and drink the cup? And because Christ, in this moment, is agonizing, knowing the full weight of what is to come in the next hours, should he drink of the cup? What that means is that he made a decision out of great love for you and out of great love for God, that he would endure that level of agony for us, making his love and his sacrifice all the more wonderful.
Speaker 2:The summation of the law of God is love. Jesus said that the greatest commandments are to love God with all of your being and to love your neighbor as yourself. On these two laws, all of the 613 laws in the Old Testament, hang. Love is the fulfillment of the law and Jesus here perfectly fulfills the law. Think about this he is obeying God in this moment in a way that no other person has obeyed God. Think about it.
Speaker 2:Back in the Garden of Eden, god put a tree in the garden and he said to Adam don't eat of this or you'll die. And Adam disobeyed Don't eat of this tree, adam, if you obey me, I will bless you and you will live. But Adam disobeyed. But now we're in another garden and the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ is in the garden and God tells Jesus about another tree. And he said, jesus, I want you to take of this tree. And what's your reward for obedience? It's not like Adam, the first Adam, where I'll bless you, you obey me and I'll crush you. And Jesus did it. His obedience, his love for God is unmatched. And then his love for us. His love for us, jesus, not knowing the extent of what he would do and bear on our behalf, if he didn't know what was before him, we could not revel in his sacrifice like we do, because he was ignorant, right? If he didn't know, he would have been ignorant of what was to happen. He knows what he would have chosen, but he knew and he chose it.
Speaker 2:I'll give you an example of this 20 plus years ago, I was thinking back. This weekend I was, I felt the call of God to go into vocational ministry and I remember those initial thoughts. I mean, yeah, a little scary, but generally speaking, I thought this could be awesome, ben, this is going to be awesome. I get to commit myself to the study of God's word, and at that time I was a music pastor, and so I would think, man, I get to write songs and to play songs and to lead people in music. Oh, bud, what a glorious time this is going to be. Now I knew to be sure that there would be challenges, like any job and calling and vocation. But, old friends, I was so naive I had no idea of the past set before me, the heartache, the betrayal. To be sure, you guys are awesome and there have been many, numerous times of great joy on this path.
Speaker 2:But this path has been peppered with great pain. People that you take bullet for, walk out of the church and won't even take your call to tell you why. People that get misinformation and assume things. People that will gossip about you and all the things and the time that it takes and drops. You know, there's times I've had to get and I'm not trying to paint myself as a victim here, this is ministry. But I remember getting a call on the middle of Easter dinner Probably been more than once and have to say well, duty calls, somebody needs me. It's a sacrifice and I had no idea 20 years ago that my fan not just me, but my family would have to sacrifice time with me so that I could minister to other families. I had no idea of the pain that awaited me and I thought this weekend if I would have known what. I have done it and I'm just going to be real with you today I honestly don't know that I would have, because it's been costly. It's been costly. So you can't say 20 years ago that I made a sacrificial choice. No, I didn't know, but Jesus did and he made the choice anyways.
Speaker 2:And think about it. Think about his love, his 12 closest people. Think back to the last supper that justice occurred and Jesus knows Judas is going to betray him. Judas doesn't repent. Jesus calls him out, judas goes and he's. This is what Judas right now is. Jesus is in the garden. This is what Judas is setting up. And now Jesus takes these 11 others with him and he takes his three closest friends. He even pulls them in even closer and they can't even stay awake and watch and pray. And he has prophesied and we know this happens Every one of them will abandon him in his darkest hour.
Speaker 2:And these are the people he's going to die for. Those disciples are you and me, betrayers. Those disciples are you and me, faithless, at times Imperfect. And it's in the middle of that, here. Here he's got disciples sleeping in his darkest hour, cup of wrath before him, he looking back. I'm going to do it anyways, aren't you glad he's faithful when we're not faithful? You see the beauty of this text, the beauty of this scene.
Speaker 2:As we meditate on this, I pray that gratitude. I know we've heard about the cross over and over and over, but I pray today that something has been sparked in your heart and that you would love Christ and appreciate Christ more than ever. As you remember, he knew what was coming and yet he did it for you. He made the sacrifice, knowing what would happen. So I just pray you'd love him more than ever and again, that you'd walk out of this building going. Live every moment for that Jesus, live every moment for him. On a more practical level, as Christians, you and I, though, we'll never suffer the level of agony that he has suffered here we will go through times of agony, and maybe you're there right now, maybe you've recently experienced loss, or you've gotten some diagnosis, or some relationship has been cut off. I want you to know that you have a Savior who can sympathize with you. I think we can learn from Jesus in this text how to best navigate life's problems, the suffering that we must endure.
Speaker 2:Verses 40 and 41,. Jesus says he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said Peter, so could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. How can Jesus' response to his agony help us in our own Gethsemane moments? Because always there'll be some temptation to doubt God in Gethsemane, to try to get around God's will. When it's difficult in Gethsemane, there's that temptation to be bitter in Gethsemane. So how do we respond? Like Jesus responded, how do we deal with agony as Christians? Number one very simply, we pray. We pray. Jesus' immediate reaction was to go to God in prayer. Immediate reaction was go to God in prayer. I know it's warm in here, stay. Stay awake with me for just a few more minutes.
Speaker 2:In this one event, jesus prays three times and the Bible teaches us that we should pray without ceasing, but also that we should spend dedicated times in prayer. We've got to pray. Do you know that there was a survey recently done by Christianity today, and Christians were surveyed all over America. And do you know that only 2% of Christians said that they were actually satisfied with their prayer life, that they actually felt like they had a good prayer life. 2%, that resonates.
Speaker 2:We might gulp or gasp at first upon hearing that. But is that not true? How should we pray? I think that's an important question.
Speaker 2:Number one we should pray with reverence. Verse 39, it says that Jesus fell on his face and prayed. He fell on his face and prayed, and falling on your face it's a posture, let's say, of worship. It's falling prostrate before the Lord. It's a sign of surrender. I'm not saying that every time you pray you've got to lay on your face, though that's not a bad idea when you're in your prayer closet it's not a bad idea. But we ought to go to God with great reverence. Great reverence. It is a holy thing to call upon the Lord. We go to Him as Father. You don't have to use big words. You don't have to Notice how short Jesus' prayers are. You don't have to pray for hours.
Speaker 2:I wasone time. I remember Thanksgiving dinner and I've got two other preacher season preachers in my family and I was new in ministry. This was when I was in my 20s and I was new, and they asked me to pray for the food. So here's what I said, something like this If you're eating with me at some restaurant, you want me to pray? Okay, because I don't need to impress you with my long prayers. I'm here to pray for the food and you're hungry and so am I, and so I pray Lord, and it's not to rush. Lord, bless this food. Thank you for it in Jesus' name. So I prayed that Thanksgiving meal and my two pastors uncles, who are pastors looked at each other and go well, he hasn't been in ministry very long. And I said to them well, jesus is not impressed by our vain repetitions. That's what I told them. Take that season preachers and our big words. Right, isn't that what the Pharisees did? I want to pray on the street court.
Speaker 2:Listen, when you are in agony, you don't have five million words stored up in you. If you're in agony and all you can get out is the name Jesus, say Jesus, amen. I love that old song I sang in a couple of weeks ago. You don't have to know how to pray. All you have to know how to say is Jesus, call upon Him. And, matter of fact, when you can't even say the word Jesus, because you're in such agony, we have the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8 says that the Spirit will help us in our weakness and that He'll pray for us groanings which we can't even utter. I remember several years ago I went to the hardest, most difficult, heart-wrenching time of my life and I laid on the floor of my home office and I couldn't even speak. I wanted to pray and all of a sudden I just heard myself going oh, oh, oh. And that scripture came to mind and I realized the Holy Spirit was groaning from me with words that can't be uttered.
Speaker 2:So when you pray, you pray with reverence, but that doesn't mean you have to use big theological words. You just go to God with honor and say Lord, thank you that I can come to you and that I can boldly go to the throne of grace. Go respectfully. You could say Number two, you go with honesty. With honesty, what did Jesus ask in prayer? Let this cup pass from me. This cup pass from me.
Speaker 2:Sometimes people are scared to ask God for what they actually want. He already knows your heart, just asking Lord, I don't want this sickness, lord. I don't want this mental disorder. Lord, I don't want my spouse to leave me. Lord, I don't want to lose my job. He's our Father. He wants us to communicate our hearts with Him, though he already knows our hearts. Be honest, lord. This is not what I signed up for. Be honest, lord. I don't know why you would allow for me to go through this. Say those things respectfully, but be honest. Jesus, in great honesty, great vulnerability, says God, there's any other way. This is not the cup I want to drink. Be honest.
Speaker 2:Number three pray with trust. Pray with trust. As Jesus said, this isn't the cup I want, but not my will, but yours be done. You know what Jesus is saying in that moment. He's saying Lord, god, your way is always the best way and I trust you. I trust you, boy.
Speaker 2:That's hard to pray, isn't it? We think we figured it out. When we go to the Lord of Prayer, we go Lord. Well, if this is the solution you gave me, this would be best for your glory. Like who are you now Right? If this would happen, this would be best. I think God knows a little better than us what will be best for His glory and our good. And so we go and we're honest and we ask Him for what we want, and often the Lord will bring those things to pass. But sometimes, and we may not know the reason just like Jesus prayed three times here and the Lord said this is the way. And when Paul prayed three times for the thorn in the flesh and God said, no, I'm not taking it from you. Sometimes we just have to say, lord, not my will, but yours be done.
Speaker 2:And that takes a lot of trust, takes a lot of trust. I mean, think about it. You know your kids growing up. They want to eat jelly beans for every meal, but you say, no, you're going to eat vegetables, you know whatever. And you need your protein and you need these nutrients. And they're so mad because they know that in their minds, jelly beans are the best thing for them and they're going to be much happier and much nicer to you. But you know that it'll crush them in the end. You know what they don't and how many know God's ways are higher than our ways, his thoughts above our thoughts.
Speaker 2:So we pray. We pray with trust. Not only do we pray, this is important, don't miss this. We must surround ourselves with other Christians. Well, do I have to go to church to be a Christian? If you're asking that, you're probably not a Christian, because one of the signs of Christianity is this that you love the people of God. Now, you may not understand, when you're first saved, the importance of it, but can I get a witness in here, somebody who's been in the church a long time? Have you ever been grateful in your most agonizing moments that you've had a church family? When I went through that problem five years ago almost exactly five years ago I didn't want to be alone, and I remember coming here at 6 am in the morning and men and women of God would meet me here and pray alongside me. It is the most encouraging and uplifting thing that I could ever imagine.
Speaker 2:You need the people of God. You know we often say things like this well, you just got to give it to God, and that's true, right, we got to give our problems to God. But what does that really mean? The way that God helps us in our problems is by very regular means. So you giving it to God in part. You know what it means. It means that you're going to allow the people of God to minister to you because Galatians 6-2 says that we are to bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. You and I are supposed to be weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice, and we're to be bearing one another's burdens, but when we're going through pain, you know what the tendency is, and this is what the devil wants. The tendency is to want to isolate. But an animal in isolation out in the wild, that's a especially a wounded animal, that's a vulnerable and weak position, and the devil would love for you to isolate yourself. Beloved, we need one another. It's not that you have to go to church to be a Christian, it's that you get to go to church to be a Christian. So we need one another. It's interesting that Jesus, in his darkest hour, takes his eleven disciples with him and then he takes the three closest, peter, james and John, with him even further and there's an even more intimate conversation with them, which tells me this that we need the church like you need real life. But then you need two or three friends within here that you can call any hour of the night, and I promise you, in this church you can find those people. Am I telling the truth. Okay, number three how do we respond in agony? I'm almost done here. I promise.
Speaker 2:Lament, this is a. This has become a lost art in the church. We've been taught, very erroneously, that lamenting is a lack of faith. You just lose somebody or you just get a diagnosis. And well, why are you so uptight? You just got to have faith. Are you kidding me? You just want to kick people sometimes. I mean, you love them and the Lord, but I'm not saying you should kick them, that's temptation. But I mean, really, we say the most ignorant things and preachers do it. You don't need to worry. Well, okay, I get the trust factor.
Speaker 2:But lament, sadness, lament it's not a lack of faith. If it were, then Jesus has a real lack of faith in the garden because he's so agonized and so anxious that he's sweating like drops of blood. And we need to have a safe place in our churches. And this is that kind of place where you can come in and say I don't know what I'm going to do. Would you pray with me? I'm torn to pieces. And you can be honest and say I'm having a hard time even trusting God right now and we're going to rally around you and when you're weak, some of us who are in that moment, who maybe aren't going through that situation, we're going to hold your arms up and we're going to help you. We're going to pray with you, we're going to stand with you. But lament is not a lack of faith. We have a whole book in the Bible called Lamentations. Some of you are like we do. Finally, how do we handle this? We stay alert. How do we handle agony? We stay alert.
Speaker 2:You know, jesus tells the disciples in verse 41, watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. He says watch, watch. And again, I'll just say to you that in times of agony, the devil will try his darnness to make shipwreck of your faith. Somebody hurts you, particularly another Christian. Here's what he's going to tell you. See, you don't want any part of this, get out. Well, good thing Jesus didn't say that in the garden. He's going to tell you man, if God really cared about you, he wouldn't let you lost your job. If God really cared about you, you wouldn't be having this financial problem. If God really loved you, he wouldn't allow you to receive that diagnosis. You got to be watchful because the devil's really good at what he does. So you got to stay alert. You got to stay in prayer constantly. So there we have it, jesus.
Speaker 2:First temptation. It was in the wilderness, right, remember? He fasted 40 days and 49, and what did the devil offer him? The last one he said listen, if you do what I say, I'll give you this. I'll give you every city that you can say, I'll give you this kingdom. You know what he was offering Jesus the kingdom without the cross. And in this final temptation, here's what the devil is again offering the kingdom without the cross. If there are any other way, let this cut pass. But Jesus was faithful. He was faithful, and so when bad things happen, the devil's going to try to tempt you. Stay watchful, stay alert.
Speaker 2:Dina, if you would come to the keyboard, please. Some of you feel as if you are in the garden of Gethsemane right now. I'm quite aware of that. I just want to tell you today you've come to the right place. Let me say this first, that I just want to remind you, no matter how bad your agony might be right now, if you are a Christian, you'll never suffer the cup of wrath, because Jesus took it for you. Isn't that good? But I do want you to know this if you're here and you're not a Christian, you're not a true follower of Jesus, and I'm not going to tell you that. If you're a Christian, you're not a true follower of Jesus. If you don't know Jesus Christ, if you've not believed upon His death, barrow and Resurrection, I'll tell you this you will suffer that cup for all of eternity. And you don't want to suffer it.
Speaker 2:But I'm not a fire and brimstone preacher because I think there's better. I mean, I don't want to go to hell, don't get me wrong, but I think there's better reasons to become a Christian. I argue yes, I don't. So if you see the cup before you go, I don't want to experience that. Okay, become a Christian, but I've got something better. I've got a better argument for you today. This Jesus who saw the cup and said I'll drink it for you. Why would you not want him? It's not. This is not just to get out of jail, free card. This is about being invited into a new humanity. It's about being welcomed into the Messiah's family, to be loved by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the one who knows your name, the one who cares for you, the great shepherd, the great I am. He bid you to come to him. So you're not a Christian.
Speaker 2:May today be the day of salvation. But I'm quite aware hopefully, I think most of you are Christians today and some of you are experiencing real Gethsemane moments. You've got some diagnosis, you've lost somebody recently. I mean, I know a lot of what you're going through. I look around and I see the hurt. I see it. You've been abandoned by somebody you loved. Your spouse has walked out and you're in Gethsemane. I want you to know you've come to the right place. Beloved, you've come to the right place. Here's the beautiful thing Hebrews tells us that we have a Messiah, we have a Lord who can sympathize with us because he's been where you've been. I want you to know he's right with you today.
Speaker 2:I've told you about my good friend, britton Cottrell. I was on staff with him in Greeley Colorado. I've had him here twice to preach In his early 40s, found out recently that he had stage four cancer not a good prognosis and I've talked to him several times since he's going through treatment right now. I've talked to him several times and I'm on the phone with him and I'm weeping and he's talking to me like normal and Britton, how you feeling and he just and it's not disingenuous, there's just a calm to his voice because Jesus is with him in the garden.
Speaker 2:I don't know why Britton is going through this and I'm praying for his healing, but he's praying, lord, not my will, but yours be done. He's believing for healing but Lord, not my. Here's what Britton said to me. He said, chris, I want to be healed. I've got a daughter, I think she's 13 years old, just turned 13. I want to be healed, but what I want more than anything is for God to get glory and people to come to Jesus, and so whatever way God sees fit to make that happen, I'm all right with it.
Speaker 2:Jesus is with him in Gethsemane and numerous Christians that he's known through the years are I mean his Facebook page, the telephone ringing off the hook. People have traveled, christians have traveled from all over the United States to come just sit with him. He's just been overwhelming. So he's got Christ with him, he's got God's people with him, and I want you to know that he has peace that surpasses understanding, truly, and I want you to know today that there's peace in this. We're gonna pray for you. We're gonna pray for you if you have a need today and we're gonna ask God for healing and belief for it and all those things that. But I want you to know, regardless of what happens today or tomorrow, I want you to know he's with you in the garden.
Speaker 2:Final thing I'll say one of the hangups for atheists coming to Jesus is the problem of evil and suffering. If God is all powerful and he's all good, why would he allow evil and suffering? And we've tried to kind of figure that answer out for years and convince atheists as to why this, why they should not have a problem with this. But I like shocking to you. I know Tim Keller's answer the best and here's what he says. He's a brilliant theologian, brilliant man, and here's what he says to people, scholars, who are atheists, and ask him about the problem of evil and suffering. Here's what he says and I'll leave you with this.
Speaker 2:He said I don't know what the reason is for God allowing suffering in your life or in the world. But he says I know what it's not. It's not that God is aloof to your pain. It's not that he doesn't care, because Jesus Christ himself stepped down into the worst of it. He took that cup for you and for me. Let's pray, god. I realize there are many hurting in here today. Well, there's so much pain in this room. Let this be a safe space for lament and let it be a place where prayer is fervent. Let us surround one another, encourage one another, help one another. Let us stay awake and pray for one another. We pray today that we would boldly go to the throne of grace. We pray, lord. Yes, we want you to hear our hearts, but we pray in all things, not my will but yours, be done, and we trust you that your way, not only the easy way, always the easy way, but it's the best way. And, jesus Christ, we say thank you for taking the cup of wrath so that we don't have to Amen.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening. If you'd like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at infoatmyrealchurchorg. Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, kentucky. We invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 10.45 am or Wednesday at 7 pm. Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.