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Matthew Round

The Gospel of Luke • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Prayer can be the place we find strength to submit to God’s plan - even in a crisis. So in our present crisis, be honest with God in prayer, but pray for the strength to walk the hard path of obedience. Jesus walks the costly path of submission, and so, Jesus takes the cup of wrath for us. Let Jesus take your cup. Show others the mercy and grace you’ve been shown.

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[cam,name banner] Good morning - my name’s Matt and I’m one of the leaders here at Hope City Church Edinburgh. It’s great to be with all of you today and a particularly warm digital welcome to you if you are new. We’d love to connect with you more so please do stick with us until the end of the broadcast and we’ll let you know how to do that. [clear banner]

It doesn’t take a genius to see we’re living through the middle of an unprecedented crisis.

It doesn’t take a genius to see we’re living through the middle of an unprecedented crisis [add small screen].

I don’t know the details of your week but my family’s week - like most people in our country - was totally crazy. I’m recording from home because we’re in isolation - hence this background. We’re nearly at the middle of a 14 day home lock-down and no-one’s killed each other yet which we’re taking as a good thing. I expect every one of us has faced extraordinary change this week - again and again as things have developed so quickly.

Feeling lots of things all at once

I don’t know what you’re feeling right now, but I’m feeling lots of things all at once. Perhaps:

you’re feeling shock - so many sudden shifts. I feel like I have to pinch myself to check I’m not just dreaming - can this really be what’s happening around the country, around the world? I’m struggling to adapt to this new reality. And I’m totally overwhelmed with the huge list of all the things that now urgently need to be done. We can be forgiven for feeling shocked - this is shocking!

perhaps you’re feeling loss - all the things we’d planned that won’t now happen; things I was really looking forward to. The road ahead - which was at least somewhat clear - is suddenly gone, pulled from under our feet like a rug. I don’t know what it might be for you, but I think all of us have experienced loss: simple things like our freedom to go out. Big things like jobs disappearing - the people we used to work with, will we see them again? Education just shutting down, leaving only confusion and a void, no closure, no clarity.

perhaps you’re feeling fear - fear of things that might be coming. What if everyone ends up in home isolation, not just the sick and vulnerable? How will I pay my rent? What if I get sick - if I’m not sick already? What if the economy fails? Will there be food to eat? Will I have to eat that readymeal that’s been lurking at the back of my freezer for 5 years? … What if we really do run out of loo roll?

There’s a lot we’re feeling right now. this is truly an unprecedented moment. So how do you respond to a crisis? Well there are lots of different way - I expect you can see a variety of responses in the people around you:

you can pretend - pretend there’s nothing really going on: Hakuna-matata - no worries! School kids are just on holiday early. Traffic’s just unusually light. Tesco’s just not gotten round to stocking this aisle yet today. You can try to carry on as normal, as if nothing’s happening - but we know that’s not true.

you can panic! - run around screaming - at least virtually, on Facebook. Or just freeze, like a deer in the headlights. Wash your hands every 30 seconds all day. Buy all the broccoli and baby wipes. Sell all your stocks and shares. Rush into your bedroom, shut the door, and vow never to open it again. but panic really doesn’t help.

or you can just curl up in a ball - resigned that the end is nigh. There’s a real danger we start to think “why even bother anymore” and just give up, passive and helpless.

[back to cam]But how should we respond? Well, when Jesus faced the biggest moment of crisis in his whole life, he prays. And he wants his disciples - his followers - to do that too.

If you’re new to Hope City, I’m so glad you joined us today. For the last two years we’ve been working our way bit-by-bit through the life story of Jesus as told by a doctor called Luke, one of his contemporaries. Luke did lots of research, spoke to eye witnesses, and carefully wrote down the story we’re working our way through - all about two thousand years ago. His story, called the Gospel of Luke, has been passed down to us as one of the 66 books which makes up the bible. As a church, we believe this bible, even though it’s an ancient book, is still so relevant to us today because it teaches us who God is, who we are, the good news of what God has done, and how we should respond to it.

So what we’re going to do now is to read the next section of Luke’s story, and then think about it a little together. And just to bring you up to speed, we’re at that crisis moment in Jesus’ life: he’s shared his last meal with his closest friends. in just minutes he’ll be betrayed - betrayed by one of them. in just a few hours he will be dead. How does Jesus respond in crisis?

Joe, one of our regulars, is going to read for us the words from Luke chapter 22 starting at verse 39. We’ll put the words up on the screen and you can find a bible integrated into our online platform that you’re using right here too. bible passage

He’s human

[reading video] follow reader

honest submission in prayer brings strength for God’s way.

[back to cam] Thanks Joe.

Jesus in crisis - the night before his death, the moment when darkness reigns, what does he do? He prays [cam+smallscreen]- that is, he talks to God - that’s what prayer is: simply talking to God. He prays and he wants his disciples to do the same. That is a big thing for us to take on board in a moment of crisis right there. In fact, throughout Jesus’ life, at each pivotal moment, he seeks to connect with God through prayer. If you’re not one for prayer, perhaps now is a fine time to start!

But let’s not stop at that. There’s more for us to learn here too - in the next fifteen minutes I want us to look closely at how Jesus prays because there’s more we can learn. I’m going to focus us in on his words in verse 42.

So first, how.

First of all, perhaps it goes without saying, but Jesus is honest. In v 42 Jesus’ prayer starts with “if you are willing, take this cup from me.” When Jesus asks for this cup to be taken from him, that’s a metaphor, a word-picture. If you looked back through the pages of the bible, you’d find this picture of a cup being used again and again to picture punishment for wrong doing, to picture suffering and trouble as judgement - judgement from God. Here’s one example from the ancient prophet Jeremiah: [slide only]

New Living Translation Chapter 25

This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16 When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them.”

17 So I took the cup of anger from the LORD and made all the nations drink from it—every nation to which the LORD sent me.

New Living Translation Chapter 25

15 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16 When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them.”

He’s honest

Jesus knows that suffering and punishment are just ahead for him - and he’s honest with God that he doesn’t want to go through that. He has no deathwish. He’s not just playing at being a human, a superman wrapped in skin who won’t even feel what’s to come. Jesus is truly and fully human - and he doesn’t want to suffer.

cup=suffering, punishment for wrongdoing (wrath?)

honest. [smallscreen] Jesus knows that suffering and punishment are just ahead for him - and he’s honest with God that he doesn’t want to go through that. He has no deathwish. He’s not just playing at being a human, a superman wrapped in skin who won’t even feel what’s to come. Jesus is truly and fully human - and he doesn’t want to suffer.

This sort of visceral honesty before God is something you’ll find lots of examples of through the pages of the bible - in the book of Psalms, for example, prayers and songs of God’s people, there’s lots of complaining about how bad things are and wishing that they would change - all carefully preserved for us. The bible doesn’t at all suggest our prayers should be U-rated platitudes, keeping what we’re really thinking and feeling to ourselves.

And if you think about it, anything other than absolute honesty before God is senseless - as if you can pray one thing and he won’t know you’re really thinking another! It’s like a child closing their eyes and saying “you can’t see me.” God knows us better than we know ourselves, knows the truth of our hearts even when it’s hidden from us, and knows our thoughts, knows our words before they are even on our tongues, tells us.

doesn’t want to suffer - no deathwish; He’s human - not just playing at being human

honest before God = norm cf psalms

honest before God only sensible - he knows

Jesus wishes things would be different and he honestly tells God that - it’s ok to ask God to act, to change things. In our current crisis it’s ok to ask him why this is happening, to take your experience, the things you fear that lie ahead, to God - and to ask him to change it. He knows what’s going on inside us and it’s ok to have that spill out in front of him.

So Jesus is honest - but there’s a second part to his prayer: he’s also willing to submit to God’s plan, to God’s way forward. He continues in v42 “yet not my will, but yours be done.” A prayer of submission. Now this word submission, this has a bad taste in our day and age. It’s got negative connotations. When we think about submission, we so often think about forced submission - like in wrestling, where you’ve got that other person’s leg wrapped around their head and they have to tap out, they have to submit.

ok to ask God to act, to change things

But submission isn’t always extracted like that, extracted by force - submission can be willingly given too. We can choose to submit: to submit to government guidance on social distancing. To submit to the advice to exercise still, not just watch Netflix. Submission is not always easy - not at all.

Starting at the light end, it hasn’t really been that hard for our family to submit to the government guidance on isolating for 14 days with symptoms - but we definitely would have liked to nip out now and then for a few things! There are many places where it is much harder to willingly submit, though. God calls us to speak the truth where so often it would be easier to do less. Submission there is hard; costly. God calls us to sacrifice for others rather than to please ourselves. Submission here is often deeply painful. Not what I had wanted to do today, but what you needed me to do. Not what I would have chosen but what served you instead.

He’s willing to submit to God’s plan, God’s way

There are many places where it is harder to willingly submit, though. God calls us to speak the truth where so often it would be easier to do less. Submission there is hard; costly. God calls us to sacrifice for others rather than to please ourselves. Submission here is so often deeply painful. Not what I had wanted to do today, but what you needed me to do. Not what I would have chosen but what served you insteda.

This, I think, is actually one of the key functions of prayer - one that we often don’t grasp. We so often approach prayer as a way of getting what we want, a way of twisting God’s arm, a way of nagging him to submit to our plan - where I think Jesus shows us here that [slide only] prayer can be the place where we find the strength to submit to God’s plan instead. Prayer can be the place where we find the strength to submit to God’s plan. Even when it’s hard for us. Even where it will be costly and challenging for us. … Even when, like for Jesus, it will cost us everything. [back to smallscreen]

Now for the record, Jesus is an expert at prayer: black belt; Olympic gold medal; you name it. he’s top-drawer. And it’s cool to see here that when he’s prayed, heaven hears and sends help, like you might expect when it’s done right. But here’s the thing: it’s not the sort of help we would like. It is help that strengthens him v43 tells us, but it’s not help which makes the road ahead smoother or less painful. In fact, after he’s been helped, v44 tells us Jesus is in anguish - how does that work? What sort of help is that?

Here’s the sort of help I want when I pray: help that would see Jesus stand to his feet, an eager look in his eyes, crack his knuckles, and say “let’s do this thing”. Help that makes our path easy, not leaves it hard. But no, the help that heaven sends is strength to go through the anguish, not to remove it. Help to walk the hard path, not another one. So when you feel like your prayer hasn’t been answered, when you feel like no-one in heaven heard a word you said, remember Jesus here. His road is still hard and painful - but his prayer has been heard and he is strengthened.

There’s another question I want us to dig into from today’s bible reading before we’re done, though - and it’s this: why is there such struggle here? Why is Jesus so desperate-seeming in his prayer? Why the anguish?

finished with this epic time of prayer, what we don’t see is Jesus standing to his feet, an eager look in his eyes, cracking his knuckles, and saying “let’s do this thing”. Heaven sends help - but it’s not help which makes the road ahead any easier, it’s strength for the difficult road ahead. Instead, while heaven sends help to strengthen him, verse 44 tells us he

but submission can be willingly given (submit to govt guidelines?)

See, here’s the thing: there’s plenty of people who have faced down their own death with calm resolve, with courage, without any apparent struggle - without breaking a sweat. Why is this such a difficult moment for Jesus?

this sort of moment.

But I want to speak a little about why Jesus prays so earnestly here

so hard to willingly submit to something we wouldn’t choose (not forced on us - isolation)

Perhaps you’ll remember these famous last words? “I am just going outside and may be some time”? When Captain Scott’s 1912 attempt to reach the South Pole failed, and the team retreated, [slide only] Lawrence Oates, one of the team, believed he was slowing his group down. So one night, he quietly sacrificed his life to improve chances for the rest, walking out of their tent into a blizzard, never seen again. In the wartime generations, many faced death with courage and resolve. [back to smallscreen] In our generation, medical staff around the world right now are risking their lives - and although I am sure it is a struggle and comes with fear for many, there are surely those who calmly face it down.

God examples - speaking truth, sacrifice for others

this, I think, is one of the key functions of prayer that we often don’t grasp

not about getting God to submit to our plan

but about finding strength to submit to God’s plan

But I want to speak a little about why Jesus prays so earnestly here

Many have calmly faced death - why is Jesus making such a big deal of what’s ahead? Is it just that he lacks their guts? Certainly not!

wartime generation

Here’s what we must understand: Jesus faces more than mere death here. When he prays that the cup might be taken from him, this cup, like we talked about earlier is a bible word-picture for suffering, for punishment. Jesus faces not just death, but the punishment which justice demands for all the wrong in our world: every evil act, every wrong deed.

A delivery driver shared a story with us this week of visiting shop after shop, looking for powdered milk for his baby as they were about to run out. Finally he found a store with several boxes left - but as he went to pick one up, a woman pushed in and took every single box - even though there were many. He explained the situation to her and asked if she could let him have just one. But no.

Does that make you mad? We hate injustice and evil - and God does too. God doesn’t ignore it, or ignore any evil - he won’t just sweep it under the carpet and forget about it. It deserves God’s anger - or to use an old-fashioned word, his wrath. And this is - if you’re willing to accept it - this is the problem we all have: evil isn’t just out there, in other people - it’s in here. In my actions - in your actions. In my thoughts - in your thoughts. In my heart - in your heart. We who do, think and want wrong things - things which deserve God’s anger.

We hate injustice and evil - and God does too. God doesn’t ignore it, or ignore any evil - he won’t just sweep it under the carpet and forget about it. It deserves God’s anger - or to use an old-fashioned word, his wrath. And this is our problem, the problem we all have: evil isn’t just out there, in other people - it’s in here. In my actions - in your actions. In my thoughts - in your thoughts. In my heart - in your heart. And the amazing good news of Christianity is that there is both justice and mercy - through Jesus’ death on the cross.

But the amazing good news of Christianity is there is mercy for us, mercy for any who ask, no matter what. What we’re seeing in our bible reading today is Jesus preparing to face the wrath this evil deserves instead of us - in our place - preparing to face God’s justice delivered. See, it’s not his cup he’s taking, not wrath that should fall on him because of things he’s done - there’s nothing due him.

What we’re seeing in our bible reading today is Jesus preparing to face the wrath this evil deserves instead of us - in our place - preparing to face God’s justice delivered. See, it’s not his cup he’s taking, not wrath that should fall on him because of things he’s done - there’s nothing due him. It’s our cup: wrath that should fall on us. All of us. That’s why it’s massive.

It’s our cup he’s taking from us: wrath that should fall on us. That’s why what he faces is so overwhelming. And because he submits to God, strengthened after prayer to walk the hard path, because drinks that cup, going to the cross, dying in our place - because of him, we can experience mercy, not judgement. [cam only]

And because he submits to God, strengthened after prayer to walk the hard path, drinking that cup, going to the cross, dying in our place - because of him, we can experience mercy, not judgement. If we dare to trust what Jesus has done, believing he willingly took what we we deserved, for us, because he loved us - then this mercy

Perhaps this is all new to you? Then we’d love you to stick with us as we continue to explore Jesus’ story. We’re just coming to the climax of the story in the next few weeks. Join us next week. Ask questions. Learn more. Consider the evidence. You’re invited to come and see what a community that’s trying to believe this and live it out looks like from the inside - digitally at least!

Perhaps you know this for yourself already? Then be moved again by what Jesus went through for you, see his love, and as a recipient of mercy and grace, let that empower you to show mercy and grace to others. As you face your own hard path of submission, be strengthened through prayer to walk in Jesus’ footsteps.

Perhaps you already know these things, but you’ve never actually responded? If you feel that God is reaching out to you once more this morning, act, don’t let it wait. Particularly in this time of crisis. Tell him you are ready to believe. That you want him to take your cup for you. That you are ready to submit if he will strengthen you. And then tell someone - tell us; tell me - I’m matt@hopecityedinburgh.org; tell a friend. So we can help you take first steps into this new life.

...

Jesus walks the costly path of submission, and so, Jesus takes the cup of wrath for us. Let Jesus take your cup. Show others the mercy and grace you’ve been shown.

Now this is not a popular idea today, and for centuries people have struggled with the idea of a good God being angry.

front line medics today

costly obedience to God’s plan

Why such a big deal for Jesus?

Lacking guts?

No - we have not grasped what’s before him

cup = wrath

justice demands wrongdoers -> wrath

humanity has gone wrong

covid example: baby powder delivery driver

but not just others, us too

not just facing death, facing our punishment as our substitue

costly obedience to God’s plan

love for his enemies - like the one injured even as he is arrested

plan: him in our place - he drinks our “cup” - we get his, the cup of blessing

call to commit life to Jesus

He’s willing to be our substitue

Let’s pray together.

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