Committed Like Jesus

As we conclude 2017, I felt led to Luke 22 to close out this theme of Jesus being our everything. With Jesus as our example and pattern for living, we can’t focus on His life, without looking at the hours leading to His crucifixion.

Luke 22 is jam packed with details leading up to Christ’s trial. In it you find:

Judas agreeing to betray Christ

The passover being prepared and celebrated

The Lord’s Supper instituted

Christ predicts His betrayer

The Disciples fight over who is the greatest

Christ predicts Peter’s denial

Christ telling of coming conflict

Then you find Christ’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before His arrest and subsequent trials.

Join me there in:

Luke 22:39–44 KJV 1900

39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. 40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

It is this agonizing prayer that caught my attention.

This agony that produced sweat like drops of blood falling to the ground.

This prayer of perfectly blended divinity and humanity. That beautiful babe wrapped in swaddling clothes now lying in a garden awaiting Calvary. What a thought!

Against the normal Jewish custom of praying while standing, we see Christ kneeling down to pray in v. 41. (Matt. and Mark he falls down)

As He falls to His knees Jesus prays:

“If it could be your Will, Father, take this cup of your wrath away.”

In essence:

“Was there any other way for God to save human beings than by sending His Son to die in our place?”

Before answering this question, it is important to realize that it was not necessary for God to save any people at all. - Grudem

2 Peter 2:4 NKJV

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

Here we realize the that God could also have chosen with perfect justice to have left us in our sins. In the justice of His character, atonement was not absolutely necessary.

On the other hand, God - in His love - chose to extend salvation and scripture is clear that there was no other way for God to do this than through the death of His Son. In the sense of His loving character, then, atonement through Jesus was absolutely necessary.

Acts 4:12 NKJV

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Yet, here we find Christ praying these words.

Well, We are confident that Jesus always prayed according to the will of the Father, and that he always prayed with the fullness of faith. Jesus knew that this was indeed the Father’s will, and although His humanity was in agony, He was willing to fulfill His purpose in the Father’s plan.

There is an example of our human perspective in Luke 24, when Jesus talk with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Not knowing who they were talking to, they were sad that Jesus had to die, and Jesus responded…

Luke 24:25–26 NKJV

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”

Likewise, Paul show in Romans 3 that God is righteous and that to save people, Jesus had to be sent

Romans 3:26 NKJV

to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Further, Hebrews emphasizes that Christ had to suffer for our sins:

Hebrews 2:17 NKJV

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

So, yes, Christ had to come. He had to live the perfect, sinless life He lived. He had to obediently follow the Father’s plan. He had to die the death of the Cross and bare the sins of many.

Yes, in love, Christ fulfilled the just requirement needed for atonement.

But look at His prayer again in v. 42

Luke 22:42 NKJV

42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Father, if it could be possible, I would want to pass it on. But because it is not, thy will be done.

It is with this same submissive heart attitude we should approach every day of 2018.

Father, perhaps I would plan things differently - perhaps if things could change - nevertheless, may your will be done.

God I can’t change what happened in 2017.

I can’t take unsay what was said, I can’t undo what was done, I can’t cure what was ill, and I can’t bring back to life what now is dead - therefore, your will be done.

Can you imagine for a moment what Christ is enduring here. He knows of the betrayal by Judas. He knows that His disciples will all run and hide for a time. He knows the excruciating physical suffering that He will endure. And most of all, He knows that He will become sin, the One who knew no sin.

Yet in all of the agony, he remains committed. Not my will, but thine be done, He said.

For some today, all it takes is a stubbed toe or leaky facet for us to begin questioning God’s goodness and our commitment to His plan.

For others it’s an unkind word by another “Christian” or our preferences not being met in Sunday worship.

A little deeper it’s the layoff at work or the persistent rebellion of your children. Deeper still, it’s the prolonged sickness of a loved one or a sudden death.

Before we know it, the circumstances of life have all but derailed our faith and our commitment becomes focused on our own plans instead of God’s glory.

How easy it would have been for any of us in Jesus’s shoes to host a temper-tantrum instead of a prayer meeting. How quick are we to question instead of submit.

1. It’s ok to be overwhelmed (v. 41)

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 NKJV

Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2. Remember God will meet your needs (v. 43)

Philippians 4:19 NKJV

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

3. Continually submit to God’s working in your life (v. 42, 44)

Philippians 1:6 NKJV

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 6111 Nothing Else

At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered a prayer that is a classic in brevity and poignancy: “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 6112 What—Where—When

“The last words of Richard Baxter, the famous English Puritan divine, author of the celebrated work The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, and the man “who preached as a dying man to dying men,” were these: “Lord, what Thou wilt, where Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt.”

God is actively involved in your life and has created you for His glory. Regardless of circumstances, will you remain committed to His plan?

Will you praise Him in your pain? Will you obey Him in submission? Will you follow Him in faith?

Christ - our ultimate example - from the garden did pray - not my will, but thine.