Wednesday, August 24, 2022 PM

Luke 22 and the Eleventh-Hour Discipleship Moments

Let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 22 and talking about the eleventh act that Jesus gave to his disciples on the night when Jesus was betrayed, after Judas had abandoned the group to go inform the scribes, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, of where Jesus was so that they may come around the knowledge of the crowds whom they feared.

On this very night the disciples argued and protested and missed the point and fell asleep and all the while Jesus kept on shepherding his failing sheep. So we have these eleventh hour discipleship moments.

We've talked about the debate about greatness. Jesus informed his disciples that the greatest in his kingdom would be the servant of all. After all, he is the son of man who did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many and his disciples needed to understand that principle.

Christ was not at all against hierarchy in and of itself but he taught that those who have stewardship and responsibility and authority are called to serve. Peter was trying to assure his Lord that he would not deny Christ but Jesus compassionately, effectively handled Peter and assured him even with the promise that Peter would return to him after he failed.

Last time we talked about the change that Jesus brought in terms of preparation for his disciples. How before he had sent them out two by two and told them to make no extra provision for themselves and they learned their lesson through that that even though they did not go out with anything extra they didn't lack any supplies but now that Jesus was about to be crucified and that under the auspices of being a criminal and an outlaw all of his followers would be treated the same and yet they had important tasks ahead of them so even while they were to depend upon the Lord for all of their provision they were also to prudently make provision as they went forth.

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

And now we come to verses 39 through 46 of Luke 22. Verses 39 through 46 coming out he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed and his disciples also followed him when he came to the place he said to them pray that you may not enter into temptation and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and prayed saying father if it is your will take this cup away from me nevertheless not my will but yours be done.

Then an angel appeared to him from heaven strengthening him and being in agony he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When he rose up from prayer and had come to his disciples he found them sleeping from sorrow.

Then he said to them why do you sleep rise and pray lest you enter into temptation. So there is a in the other synoptic Gospels and the other passages that we read the same story in from a different angle we learn that they have come to the garden at Gethsemane.

And his last instructions to his disciples before his arrest was a call to prayer. And I want us to think about how it is that Christ calls them to pray. We need to recall his previous instructions to them about prayer.

When they said you know John the Baptist taught his disciples teach us to pray. How did he teach them. How did he instruct them. We need to consider the outcome of this call to pray. What was he hoping for his disciples in this moment.

And then we need to see what happens when I read this passage that he was in the garden of Gethsemane a stone's throw away. I had to go grab my grandfather's rock. My grandfather went to Israel three times and he came back the first time with a whole bunch of rocks.

I don't know if it was sanctioned that he bring those rocks back. But he did and he labeled them all where they came from. So this is a rock from Gethsemane. It's a stone from Gethsemane. However far you could chunk this stone.

That's how far Jesus walked away from his disciples and began to pray. But he wanted them to pray as well. He wanted them to pray lest they enter into temptation. Now how did Jesus teach his disciples to pray.

What do we remember. So many of us have memorized the Lord's Prayer or the model prayer as we say when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray that was the positive instruction pray in this way. This is the model.

These are the things you should be praying about the approach you should take. But he followed that up. He actually there have been occasions in discipleship where somebody says well I don't know how to pray.

Well there's no wrong way to pray. You just start. Jesus said there were wrong ways to pray. He said that praying for attention praying so that people would be impressed with your prayers was utterly wrong.

He said that using a lot of words trying to be impressive that was wrong. Using vain babble was wrong meaning making vain meaningless sounds over and over again. He said specifically that that was the wrong way to pray.

And he said this was about a relationship with a heavenly father. And Jesus was not against public prayer because he prayed publicly. But he stressed the vital importance of private prayer a kind of prayer life which would be very secret and caught up with the Lord something that nobody else would ever know about.

That there was reward and treasure in that. And indeed Christ commended the ballast of our prayer lives to be that private and secret kind of praying abroad with a lot of other people. And it was about praising God acknowledging God honoring God.

It involved seeking God's will. That our will would be in conformity with His will. That our behavior, our actions, our desires would be in accordance with His. That we should seek our needs from Him.

That we would seek our daily sustenance from Him and our daily deliverance from Him. That we would be delivered from temptation. That we would have our sins forgiven. That we would daily seek His salvation His deliverance and ultimately His victory His authority upon the earth.

So he's taught them how to pray. And he tells them now to pray that they may not enter into temptation. Now what is temptation? Right? Yeah there's a variety of temptations. But what is temptation in and of itself?

That's an enticement. It's an enticement unto something wrong. When we read in James chapter 1 in verse 12 it says, blessed is the man who endures temptation. For when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Let no one say when he is tempted I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil. Nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed by his own desires his own desires and enticed.

Then when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death. So obviously we may be tempted as Christ was tempted by the enemy by the devil. We can be tempted by the devil as a variety of folks can be tempted by the world and drawn away by this system of rebellion that is against God and those manifestations.

Certainly. But we also see that although we do not have control of where Satan goes and what he does Jesus has that perfectly fine. And even though we do not control the world and what they may put up on billboards or send through the algorithm or so on we don't control that we do are responsible for our own desires and their enticements of us.

And here we are reminded that temptation involves being drawn away being drawn away meaning drawn away from the standard of truth and righteousness. And being drawn away from pleasing the Lord by what.

By our own desires and entice. Meaning that we have sinful desires that are innate in our own nature that begin to work upon our will. They're there before our will even gets involved. And they begin to work upon our will until we are in a moment of temptation and enticement.

I find Jesus instructions interesting here when he says pray that you not even enter into temptation. We have promises in Scripture that if we are in temptation that the Lord will provide a way out which is great.

Jesus says pray so that you don't even enter into temptation in the first place. I like that. I like that he he says that we should be we should be praying so that we don't even get into that situation at all.

Galatians 6. One says brethren if a man is overtaken in any trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Meaning don't let yourself be tempted at all.

Right. So there is a a calling and a responsibility along those lines. And Jesus says that prayer that praying in the way that he taught his disciples would deliver them from even entering into temptation.

And how is that. Well again you know mom mentioned fear. But there is a lot of different things that would tempt us. How are we to properly address those innate corrupt desires that remain within us. The old man that we fight against.

We mortify the flesh we are killing sin. But how are we to fight against that. So we don't even enter into temptation. Jesus tells his disciples to pray tells his disciples to pray. Why. Because it it so it so completely puts our attention upon the Lord when we start off by glorifying God as a heavenly father who knows all of our needs before we even ask as we begin to think how glorious and precious and significant his name is as we as we as we think about how it's his will that matters not mine.

And you'll hear the echo of that in our in our Lord's own prayer when it's his will that matters his agenda that matters more than mine. And really I should be seeking that his will be done. And how in the world can I do that.

But God gives me daily provision. He gives me daily provision and and he and he forgives me of my sins and and he rescues me from the enemy. And so on and so forth. And so in praying in praying we're dealing with all of those pot potential desires that would that would potentially take us away from the Lord and and draw us into sin.

So Jesus tells his disciples to pray that they may not enter into temptation.

Christ's Human Will and the Mystery of the Incarnation

And so he goes and he prays and he says father your's be. He follows his own but he prays according to the pattern right. He addresses his father's will. He asks for what he needs but trusts in the father's provision.

Sometimes this passage has been looked on with a bit of of concern that somehow God the father and God the son disagree. But as we as we look upon these intimate moments of the mystery of the incarnation it is important to remember that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.

That he is as much God as God is God and he is as much man as man is man. And that in regards to this that Jesus Christ had two natures in one person but in his human nature he had a human will. He had a human will.

Now this has been thought of and observed for a long time but we recall from Hebrews chapter 2 that Jesus was made like us in all things that he was fully human and I believe it was one of the Gregory's of church history.

There were more than one who observed that what was not assumed was not redeemed. Meaning if there is some part of humanity that Jesus did not possess that part cannot be saved. And that's just an observation from the full true humanity of Christ in the scripture that he was made like us in all things that he might be our perfect eternal effective high priest.

So as we see Jesus praying in the garden and him say father if it is your will take this cup away from me. Nevertheless not my will but yours be done. We are all at once assured of the perfections and the fullness of our savior that he has a human will and he died on the cross to save us and to redeem us even our wills to be redeemed and saved.

Then we read that an angel appeared to him from heaven strengthening him great drops of blood falling down to the ground which is a medical condition I cannot pronounce but it is something of great intensity where Jesus Christ was definitely suffering as he prayed as his hour drew near.

Remember earlier in Luke he said I have a baptism to undergo and he was distressed until it was accomplished. And that baptism of course was his death and burial and resurrection. And then we read that when he rose up from prayer and had come to his disciples he found them sleeping from sorrow.

And he said to them why do you sleep and rise and pray unless you. What reasons did the disciples have for sorrow. What had made them so sorrowful when Jesus had told them right I'm going to I'm going to die.

That made them sorrowful. That mean that would be enough. Right. But there was even more everything was changing. There had been a lot of conflict in that week so far. A lot of showdowns a lot of chaos as people were getting very very angry with Jesus and his followers.

Jesus had just told them that one of them would betray him. Right. He told Peter you're going to deny me he just I'm going to be killed like a criminal. And you all be better packing swords. There's a lot of reasons.

They had a lot of sorrow. And God knows our frame. How often do we find ourselves in great sorrow. And anybody who has gone through grieving knows that sleep comes with sorrow. And they are under great sorrow.

And so they sleep. It's not what their Lord told them to do. Sleep's not bad. But he told them to pray lest they enter into temptation. The temptations of despair the temptations of of fearing man the temptations of fearing death.

So many different temptations that would come upon them. And he said what you need right now is to pray. And they did not. They had an idea of of Messiah that was only partial an idea of when Messiah shows up we will see pretty much immediate total global victory.

Yeah. And they didn't. This was not part of how they were taught growing up. Yes yeah they always they were always thinking we're on the cusp of Jesus being made king over everything. And boy then what position will we have.

And so in this case they've had a lot of disappointments a lot of expectations that have been shattered a lot of reasons of sorrow. And so they are sleeping. And Jesus says to them rise and pray lest you enter into temptations.

Pray at the Last Minute in the Hour of Crisis

Now we see immediately after that that while he was still speaking the multitude shows up with Judas Iscariot to arrest him. And you might say well it was too late. Then you know rise up and pray. And here comes here comes the here comes the crowd to arrest Jesus.

Still not too late to pray. Even as even as the feared disaster comes upon them like an avalanche. Still not too late to pray. God is not at all incensed about his children praying at the last minute even in the crucial moment.

This does not. This does not anger God. This does not cause him to look upon his children with less favor. We have his smile fixed upon us through the righteousness of Christ. We may always go to our Heavenly Father in the time of even pressing need.

And still pray. It's not too late for the children of God to pray even in the crucial moment. So even here Jesus knows what's going on. Pray in the night watches pray when you're sorrowful pray when there is a great deal of trouble.

Pray lest you enter into temptation. And when the critical moment comes when the critical moment comes and the disaster befalls it's not too late pray. Pray lest you enter into temptation. And and at this last few minutes of the eleventh hour the very last thing how fitting it is that Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray.

Alright. Well um we're going to uh switch over to our prayer time.