Sermon Tone Analysis

Have you ever noticed how we speak of weeds choking out a garden?

The weeds are thriving and doing wonderfully, but that’s not what was planted.

The purpose of a garden is to produce vegetables, fruit, and flowers.

That requires cultivation to make sure the weeds don’t get the upper hand.

I know there are no-till methods that are used, but I am choosing to use a method which is known to most everyone and that makes a better parallel for me.

Cultivation requires work and effort, just as prayer does.

Sometimes, it means we have to get rid of something or recognize that which is not beneficial in the purpose of the garden.

We may have to be brutal as we turn over the soil or pull out those weeds.

It is the same in our prayer lives.

Sometimes we may be forced to recognize and deal with some things and brutally remove them from our lives, with the Holy Spirit’s help.

For if we don’t, they will choke out that which is good and beneficial in our Christian walk.

This also requires diligence.

It is not just a one-time effort.

Our prayer lives are a discipline that we must develop.

If we don’t, we will not grow as we ought.

And if we don’t grow in Christ, we will find ourselves facing adversaries of all kinds that will suck us in or take us out of making a difference for Jesus Christ.

After awhile of cultivating on a regular basis in the garden, it becomes second-nature to get rid of the junk when it’s small.

It becomes part of who we are to see what needs to be done so that the plants grow and mature as they ought to.

It is the same with prayer.

After it becomes a part of your discipline or habit or routine, it becomes second-nature to get rid of that which is harmful by confessing and repenting sin when it’s small.

It becomes part of who we are to see areas that need pruning or watering or fertilizing in our lives, so we can serve and live in a way that is honoring to the Lord.

Then we adversaries attack, we don’t fear, for we know how we are to respond for the glory of God.

We should desire a prayer life that is a normal part of our lives so as to continue serving God and living for God when the adversaries attack.

Prayer - 22:39-46

As we prepare to look into these verses, we notice that despite the knowledge that Jesus is going to endure the most horrible physical, emotional, and psychological torture any person has ever experienced; despite the knowledge that He was going as an innocent man, willingly letting Himself be crucified as a guilty person; the thoughts of Jesus are on being with His disciples and spending time in prayer with His heavenly Father.

This section, I’ve broken down to 1) the custom of prayer, 2) the contents of the prayer, and 3) the crisis in prayer.

Custom of Prayer - 22:39

We see that Jesus went out from where they were to the area where the Mount of Olives, or the Garden of Gethsemane, was.

What should strike all of us is that Luke states that this was His custom.

In other words, Jesus was not doing anything unusual compared to all the other times.

This was normal for Jesus to go out and interact with His heavenly Father.

Some might think that Jesus was desperate and was using this as an emergency escape from the upcoming situation.

Yet, we know that this is why Jesus came.

Some might think that this was just a tradition and ritual that really had no meaning.

Yet, we know that the relationship that Jesus had with the Father was as One and that the Father referred to Jesus as His beloved Son.

My friends, I want to encourage and challenge each of us to deepen our relationship with the Lord so that our prayer time will be seen as part of our normal routine or custom.

Whether we are experiencing an euphoric spiritual mountaintop or whether we are experiencing a devastating and depressing spiritual ditch or valley; we need to keep our prayer time diligently.

What is most important is the beginning; that we develop a custom of prayer; that it be a habit just like any other habit we may have which is beneficial.

Contents of Prayer - 22:40-42

These verses deal with the contents of prayer.

In this, we also see Jesus teaching his disciples about a very real danger.

The danger of temptation is not one in which any of us has the ability to defend ourselves in our own strength.

We need the very real help of God to enable us to not be ensnared by the subtle or blatant temptations that are out there.

Jesus then goes to a place that was a distance from them so He could experience a bit of privacy, yet not that far away from them.

Luke then points out that Jesus knelt down and began to pray.

Many could easily get caught up in the position of the body, but don’t let that happen to you.

The Bible speaks of many different physical postures we can take while praying.

Kneeling is a very common one and is one which many parents will do with their children in teaching them how to pray.

It is indeed a position of humility before our heavenly Father.

In addition, this would have been somewhat unusual for a Jewish person.

Normally they would stand up while looking towards heaven while they were praying.

It may be that Jesus was so overwhelmed in His humanity, that He literally went to His knees.

We’re reminded from Philippians 2, that Jesus willingly set aside His rights as God when He came to this earth.

Here we see another example of this.

Jesus does not demand that something else be done.

He does not exert His authority and right as God to squash the religious leaders who have things so wrong in their theology and living.

Listen as Jesus humbly entreats the Father: Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me.

The cup, throughout the Bible, is in reference to God’s judgment.

This cup would be the result of Jesus allowing Himself to become sin for all humanity.

There is no arrogance or demands.

Jesus is expressing his humanity, even though His deity knows that this is what must take place.

If there were any other way to satisfy God’s demands for the punishment of sin and the salvation of those who would believe on the Name of Jesus, that would have been easier.

But we will see that the real focus is on God’s perfect will.

I hear of so much self-centered praying being taught, written about, and practiced that is so wrong.

The idea that we can demand anything from God or that He is obligated to act on our bidding, smacks of spiritual arrogance and an affront to His holiness.

Even when we beg and plead that hardships or sickness or whatever difficult times are coming in our lives, we must do so with the understanding that God may have a bigger, better plan for us than we could ever possibly understand.

And you know what; He does.

Not only does Jesus come in humility in the first part of verse 42, He reminds us that yet not My will, but Yours be done.

Isn’t that really what we should be praying?

The only way that God truly receives glory from saints or sinners is when His will is accomplished and not what we would prefer to be done.

But even in Jesus’ prayer life, it is sometimes incredibly difficult, in particular, during this time of prayer.

Crisis in Prayer - 22:43-46

We saw in verse 42, just how incredibly intense the time of prayer was for Jesus.

Even as He may have felt overwhelmed, God sent an angel to give Him strength to continue in prayer.

Angels serve in many functions.

The meaning of the word refers to one who is a messenger.

Yet, Hebrews reminds us that angels are God’s servants who take care of the needs of His children, those who belong to Him because of Jesus.

And continue in prayer, Jesus did, with incredible intensity: And being in agony He was praying very fervently.

Jesus wasn’t just praying fervently, it was very fervently.

The use of this word describes being under incredible strain or being stretched to the point of nearly breaking.

Some may wonder how this could be if Jesus had such a close relationship with the Father.

We can look back on this some 2000 plus years, knowing what is about to happen in the next few hours and glean some answers.

In the last part of verse 44, we see how fervent His prayers were.

It was hard work.

The struggle which Jesus was experiencing was incredibly real and intense.

So much so that He was not only sweating, but it was like drops of blood.

Luke presents this as a simile to show the intensity of the sweat dropping on the ground.

Remember Luke wasn’t there, but is recording the events from eyewitness testimonies.

This is an actual condition that is referred to as hematidrosis.

This is where mental and emotional strain, and sometimes physical strain, can cause capillaries under the skin to burst and gets mixed in with sweat.

The issue is that Jesus was experiencing a struggle that nobody else has ever experienced.

Then verses 45 and 46 reveal another unique crisis.

Here was Jesus in the midst of the greatest struggle anybody has ever experienced with His closest companions—and they were sleeping.

But Luke presents a perspective that many of us have experienced.

Jesus found them sleeping from sorrow.

This group was now eleven.

The twelfth had gone to do his dark, dastardly deed.

It is almost as if they were beginning to understand that something terrible was about to happen.

Often sleep brings a peace to a troubled spirit.

However, now was not the time, as the timetable of God is upon them.