The Cost of the Cross: Aligning with God’s Will

• The Humanity of Jesus [00:35:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights that this passage reveals a side of Jesus not seen before, characterized by extreme emotional compromise and sorrow, contrasting with his typical composure.
• Gethsemane Prayer [00:35:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The sermon focuses on the prayer in Gethsemane as a moment of deep mystery and reverence, where Jesus expresses his desire for the cup to pass yet submits to the Father's will.
• Emotional Vulnerability [00:36:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor leans into the 'awkwardness' of Jesus's visible distress, including the physical symptom of hematidrosis, to emphasize the reality of his human suffering.
• The Humanity and Emotion of Jesus [00:35:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts Jesus's unique, extreme emotional anguish in Gethsemane with his previous composed demeanor and the composure of historical martyrs, highlighting the physical reality of his suffering.
• The Meaning of 'Abba Father' [00:42:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes the Greek and Aramaic terms used in Jesus's prayer, explaining 'Abba' as a unique, intimate, and formal address that signifies a special relationship between Jesus and God.
• Adoption and Intimacy with God [00:50:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects Jesus's use of 'Abba' to the theological concept of adoption, citing Paul's letter to the Galatians to explain how believers are invited into this same intimate relationship with God.
• The Disciples' Failure [00:38:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor notes the awkwardness of the disciples sleeping while Jesus prays, using this to highlight Jesus's capacity for intimacy and patience despite human failure.
• Intimacy with Abba Father [00:51:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that Jesus' capacity to invite disciples into intimacy despite their failures stems from his own relationship with the Abba Father, which serves as the 'engine' for loving the undeserving.
• The Cup of Wrath [00:52:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that 'the cup' is a metaphor for God's wrath against evil, citing Old Testament references (Ezekiel, Isaiah) to show Jesus was anticipating divine justice, not just physical death.
• Substitutionary Atonement [00:54:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights that Jesus, though sinless, drank the cup of wrath to pay the debt for human sin, distinguishing his death from that of other martyrs.
• The Doctrine of God's Wrath [00:56:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the cultural unpopularity of God's wrath, using Miroslav Volf's testimony to argue that wrath is essential to true love and justice, and that Jesus' acceptance of it secures our relationship with the Father.
• The Purpose of Prayer [01:02:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts Jesus' initial plea for the cup to pass with his final submission, concluding that the primary purpose of prayer is not to change God's plans but to change God's people and strengthen them for their mission.
• The Benefit of Jesus' Suffering [01:05:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Jesus, though sinless, benefited from prayer and learned obedience through suffering, gaining strength to face the cross.
• Believers' Application of Suffering [01:07:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects Jesus' experience to believers, suggesting that bringing pain before the 'Abba Father' leads to strengthening and profound good.
• Redemptive History and Communion [01:08:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the first garden (Genesis 3) with the Garden of Gethsemane, explaining that Jesus secured redemption so believers need not face God's wrath.
• Communion Instructions and Eligibility [01:09:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that communion is for those who have placed faith in Jesus, inviting non-believers to reflect silently instead, and provides logistical details for the sacrament.

• Sermon Illustration [00:33:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about seeing his father cry for the first time at a family reunion in 2002, following the death of his uncle Glenn, to illustrate the depth of familial grief and connection.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his daughter-in-law calling him 'dibbly' and his son calling him 'pops' to illustrate the informal, intimate nature of the word 'Abba' (daddy).
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a story told to him by his former pastor, Murray, about Murray's four-year-old son who insisted on calling him by his first name 'Murray' instead of 'dad,' illustrating the formal privilege of the title 'father.'
• Sermon Illustration [01:01:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of buying a house (due diligence, inspections, earnest money) to describe Jesus' process in Gethsemane: He knew exactly what He was signing up for (the cost of betrayal and the cross) and voluntarily 'put down the down payment' by submitting to the Father's will.
• Sermon Illustration [00:57:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Yale professor Miroslav Volf, who initially rejected the idea of God's wrath as 'unworthy,' but changed his view after witnessing injustice in the Bosnian War, realizing that a God without wrath is not a God of real love.
• Sermon Illustration [01:00:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites Jonathan Edwards' description of Jesus being set at the 'mouth of the furnace' to see what He was about to suffer, allowing Him to voluntarily enter into it with full knowledge.
• Sermon Illustration [01:05:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Luke 22:43, noting that an angel appeared to strengthen Jesus during the prayer, illustrating that even the sinless God-man benefited from prayer and suffering.
• Sermon Illustration [01:08:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the historical and theological parallel of two gardens: the first garden in Genesis 3 where sin entered, and the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus secured redemption, paying the 'down payment' for sins.

• Pastoral Charge [01:09:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > Urge non-believers to abstain from communion and instead engage in silent reflection and dialogue with God.
• Pastoral Charge [01:10:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > Invite those with questions about faith or communion to speak with the pastor privately.
• Pastoral Charge [01:10:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > Provide specific logistical instructions for the congregation on how to physically participate in the communion service.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:01:34] Good morning. Welcome to Midtown Community Church. Glad that you could be here to worship with us.
[00:01:39] Do you ever feel like no one's listening, like no one cares, like no one understands what it is you're going through? It might be hard to believe, but God assures us in his word that he
[00:01:51] himself, he understands, he hears, and in Jesus we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weakness and to sympathize with us whatever we're going through. We come into worship to call out to God through Christ, to meet with him, to be heard by him, to hear from him,
[00:02:13] and to worship our Savior, our shepherd forever. Today we will be called to worship from Psalm 28 on page three in your bulletin. It's a responsive reading. Please stand if you're able and just note
[00:02:25] that we call out to a God who hears us, and it's him that we worship this morning. I'll read the leader, and we can all read together the bold portion. To you, Lord, I call, for you are my rock.
[00:02:42] Praise be to the Lord. He has heard our cries for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield.
[00:02:50] My heart trusts in him. Our hearts leap for joy, and with our song we praise him. The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation. Save your people and bless your inheritance.
[00:03:07] Be our shepherd forever. Amen. That he is. Let's worship him.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:03:13] On the next page, on page six in your bulletin, we have our confession of sin. We'll often do

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:10:38] either a confession of sin or a confession of faith at this part of the service. In both cases, they're very different, but they're also similar in some cases. In both cases, we are being united in saying something truthful,
[00:10:51] in this case, something truthful about ourselves.
[00:10:53] And then we get to hear an assurance of truth about those who have put their faith in Christ.
[00:10:59] So let's together confess our sin with these words.
[00:11:03] Eternal and loving Father, you comfort, support, and encourage us.
[00:11:09] Your goodness and kindness go beyond our understanding.
[00:11:13] Your grace is richer and deeper than we can begin to comprehend. Yet despite your gracious love and faithful care, we seek to go our own way and trust our own resources. Time after time, we choose our plans over your will.
[00:11:34] Over and over again, our pride, self-reliance, and self-centeredness lead us astray. We confess we are sinners in need of forgiveness. We admit we are flawed, broken people in need of mercy.
[00:11:51] Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, forgive us for all the ways we have failed you.
[00:11:59] Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. We pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Now, Christian, if your faith is in Christ, look up and hear this good
[00:12:14] word, which assures us of our pardon found in Jesus. And who is this mediator? True God, and at the same time, truly human and truly righteous. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given to us, set us completely free to make us right with God. And the church said, thanks be to God.
[00:12:37] we'll continue in our worship with a spirit of thanksgiving by singing a song of thanksgiving and also giving our tithes and offerings if you give online this is just a chance or in some other time
[00:12:48] maybe you give monthly because that's when your paycheck comes in is it still a time to be thankful as a plate passes by let it be a reminder that we respond to the forgiveness we received
[00:12:58] in thanksgiving we don't purchase it god has been purchased fully as we just confessed let's

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:13:03] continue in worship. Children are dismissed for children's church up through second grade. So

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:18:27] you'll bring your kids up front here, find the teacher for their class. While they're being dismissed, greet somebody new around you. All right, if everybody can take a seat.
[00:20:56] Man, y'all got quiet quick. Welcome to Midtown Community Church. My name is Lindsay Williams, one of the pastors here. I will say, announcement, the Shores had their baby last night.
[00:21:10] So at 9 p.m., Sarah is her name.
[00:21:13] So everybody's doing great.
[00:21:15] But, yeah, so that's pretty awesome.
[00:21:18] So that is our, if you're visiting, that is our assistant pastor or associate pastor at our church here.
[00:21:23] So we're really excited for them.
[00:21:26] Couple of announcements.
[00:21:27] One, you may not have caught this when you first came in, but on the podium in the Northex foyer, whatever you want to call it, you have this one cheater, which is a prayer calendar.
[00:21:39] And so the purpose of this prayer calendar is twofold.
[00:21:43] One, it's to encourage you guys to pray and pray specifically for our church and also knowing in the context of the summer, we are out and about traveling, vacations and whatnot.
[00:21:55] And so this is a great way to stay connected to our church community is by praying for one another.
[00:22:01] And you've got different prayer requests for every day.
[00:22:03] So here's my recommendation for everyone.
[00:22:07] I think this may be especially so for those of y'all with kids, but I would take this calendar.
[00:22:12] You can either put it on your fridge, or another idea is you could put it in the center of your kitchen table, wherever it is that you eat, and then every time you gather together for a meal,
[00:22:23] you can quickly look at the prayer request for that day, and you can pray for our church.
[00:22:28] And it's a great way to sort of bring your kids into this prayer calendar as well.
[00:22:33] So take one of these on your way out.
[00:22:36] We've got one here for the month of June.
[00:22:39] And so, again, this is a great way to stay connected.
[00:22:42] Second announcement.
[00:22:44] All right, so here's a question.
[00:22:46] Have you ever looked at your bank statement online and you come across a charge that you don't recognize?
[00:22:57] Right?
[00:22:58] Sometimes you'll look into it and you're like, dude, that's a subscription that I care nothing about and I need to get rid of it.
[00:23:03] Other times you're like, oh, this is actually something that's really important.
[00:23:08] I just hadn't realized this before, and it's just named this way.
[00:23:13] Okay, here's the connection.
[00:23:15] Thursday night, 7 p.m., we're having a dessert featuring a ministry called Damaris House.
[00:23:22] If you give money to Midtown Community Church, you are giving money to this ministry.
[00:23:30] A portion of everything that goes into our church goes out to support ministries that are doing really good work locally and globally.
[00:23:39] Damaris House is one of those ministries.
[00:23:42] So much like an online checking account, you give to this and you need to know about it.
[00:23:49] And we've got a great privilege in that the guy who runs this ministry along with his wife, Argyris Petro, this is in Athens, Greece, but he happens to be here in the U.S. this week.
[00:24:02] He happens to be here in North Carolina, and he wants to hang out with you guys to talk about his ministry.
[00:24:08] Damaris House is a ministry that is focused on dealing with one of the greatest human rights crises that we have today.
[00:24:19] and this is human trafficking. Let me put it in perspective. The human trafficking industry generates net profits that are more than double the net profits of the largest company in the U.S., Amazon. More than double what Amazon puts in is human trafficking. Demare's house exists
[00:24:44] to address this need because it believes in this idea that the church is uniquely positioned in a number of ways to address this crisis of human trafficking. So this Thursday night, it'll be at the home of Elizabeth Adams. I would encourage you to come. Maybe a special encouragement to you
[00:25:03] women to get to know this ministry. There could be dialogue about the possibility of some year in the future, taking a missions trip over there to Athens, Greece, to work with them. But regardless, highly encourage you to take advantage of this time when Argyris is here with the opportunity
[00:25:21] to meet him personally and hear about the good work that they're doing in Athens. So if you are interested, I think one thing that'd be helpful is just email or text me and let me know, just so we
[00:25:31] can make sure we've got enough seats and desserts available for everybody who comes. But it should be a great opportunity. All right, that's it for announcements. We are here to worship. Jason's going to come pray, and then we'll jump into God's Word. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father,

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:25:52] as we have sung, you are love and the love that will not let us go. You will indeed hold us fast through fear, temptation, even our own sin. Jesus, you said in John 10, and this idea is everywhere
[00:26:10] all over the Gospels. You said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
[00:26:18] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. In that same chapter, you said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his
[00:26:29] life for the sheep. Jesus, it is because of your completed work that we are secure. Thank you for being the good shepherd who laid his life down for us. It's with gratitude of our greatest need
[00:26:43] being met, that is our need of being reconciled to God, that we can come to you asking, praying for you to meet our other needs because you have shown yourself not just to be capable
[00:26:54] but willing at a great cost to yourself even to come to our aid. So because of that, Lord, we pray for many things in our church, in our church life, in our church family. We pray for
[00:27:05] the families in our church. Children who are finishing up school, just finished. Some who are graduating from their current school, even colleges. Lord, we're thankful for the changes that come with summer, but some of those can be hard. And we just pray that you would lead us as
[00:27:23] families to do well through these transitions. Help us as parents to be the dominant voice in our children's lives, fulfilling the vows that we took to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Lord, we pray for the pregnant mothers in our church. There's a few of
[00:27:43] them, and we pray that you would bring both baby and mom to term safely. And we have prayed exactly this so many times before. We give you thanks for how you've answered. Just hear the coo of a baby
[00:27:55] just now, and that's a blessing and an answer to prayer, and we thank you for it. And as we just heard. Lord, we thank you especially for this morning, for how you answered these prayers even
[00:28:04] yesterday for the Shore family, bringing baby Sarah safely to them. Lord, we just thank you that you do hear and you answer. Lord, we pray for the marriages in our midst, old and new. We pray
[00:28:16] for the engaged and the dating. Lord, we pray that you would help us to reflect and honor you in each of these relationships. Help us to be committed to Christian charity with one another in chastity, and dignify our partner as image bearers, the image bearer that they are.
[00:28:35] Lord, we pray for the single in our midst. Help them to find satisfaction in where you have them and to use, as Paul says, their extra freedom to serve and please the Lord, to please you.
[00:28:46] Lord, we pray for the weak among us and all the forms that may take. Some of us are weakened by work situations, being either unemployed or underemployed. We are weakened in our bodies, either due to age or circumstance some of us suffer mentally or emotionally spiritually
[00:29:05] sometimes all of them or many of them at once where we pray for strength in our weakness in all these areas but lord we we also know that your power is made perfect in weakness
[00:29:17] so we humbly submit to your will in these things and we ask you to most of all show your power both to us and to the world around us that watches or glorify yourself even in our weakness as yet we
[00:29:29] also ask for you to help us and heal us and come to our aid, which we know you will. With Memorial Day upon us, we're reminded of and we pray for the families of those who have lost their lives
[00:29:41] in service to this country. We know that all human life is precious in your sight, and every fallen service member is a reminder, not just of the cost of our freedom, but of the real and ongoing cost
[00:29:54] of sin, both that inherited through Adam and our own personal sin. May we remember with gratitude their sacrifice, but also be pointed to an even greater picture of the freedom that you won for us in Christ's sacrifice. Help us to hold those both together this weekend as we remember.
[00:30:15] Lord, we need to hear from you when we think about our needs. That's perhaps our chief one, to be reconciled to you and to hear from you. And we are thankful that you have not left us
[00:30:24] in the dark, but you've left us with your word, a lamp and a light. As your word is read and preached this morning, we pray that you would use it in a powerful way to bring hope to us,
[00:30:33] to encourage us, to challenge us, even to save maybe someone in this room. Lord, we pray that you'd use your servant, Pastor Lindsey, as he preaches to give us, your sheep, what we need to hear from our good shepherd. We pray in his name, the name of Emmanuel, Christ with us, Jesus.

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:31:09] Today's scripture reading comes from Matthew 26, verses 36 through 46.
[00:31:15] 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.
[00:31:33] And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
[00:31:40] Then he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
[00:31:45] Remain here and watch with me.
[00:31:48] And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
[00:31:56] Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
[00:32:00] And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.
[00:32:04] And he said to Peter, So, could you not watch with me one hour?
[00:32:08] Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
[00:32:11] The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[00:32:16] Again for the second time he went away and prayed, My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
[00:32:23] And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
[00:32:28] So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
[00:32:34] Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Sleep and take your rest later on.
[00:32:39] See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
[00:32:44] rise. Let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. This is the word of the Lord.

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:32:51] Who here has ever seen their parents cry? I mean, like, really cry? For some of you, right, that answer is maybe no, and that may not be a big deal, like, especially if you're a kid.
[00:33:18] If you're an adult, there could be a little bit of disappointment with that no, because it reflects maybe an emotional connection that never happened. So the first time I ever saw my dad cry, and I
[00:33:35] mean like really cry, I don't know if you remember this mom, but it was at a family reunion in Rocky Mount back in 2002. And so it was the first family reunion since his brother, my uncle Glenn,
[00:33:50] passed away after a failed heart transplant a few months earlier. So my dad, as I've mentioned probably before, is one of 14 brothers and sisters. And so when we had family reunions, they were huge. My uncle Glenn, he typically was sort of like the master of ceremonies for
[00:34:09] these events. After his passing a few months earlier, that fell upon my dad. And while my dad was welcoming sort of everybody to the family reunion. He brought up his brother Glenn, and he just lost it. Really struggled to keep it together, and I'll never forget that moment. It always
[00:34:30] sticks with me. There was something about seeing my dad cry that drew me in, and it also made me really curious. A large family, he had experienced lots of loss of family members over the years,
[00:34:49] but there was something deep about the connection between my dad and my Uncle Glenn, and it made me curious about how strong of a connection that really was. The passage before us today is one
[00:35:04] of those moments for the disciples. J.C. Ryle, a pastor, he said, this is a passage which contains deep and mysterious things. We ought to read it with reverence and wonder because there's much that we cannot fully comprehend here. I do think part of what makes this prayer in Gethsemane so
[00:35:33] mysterious is that we are privy to a side of Jesus that we haven't really seen before. So up until this passage, right, it's always been everybody else who's emotionally compromised, right? Think of the grieving parents. Think of last week, the disciples, they were indignant, right? They were
[00:35:59] really angry. Numerous occasions where the religious leaders were very angry. But in all of these moments, the one person in the room who was always composed was Jesus. Now, Jesus, yes, he's shown emotion before. He's shown anger and tears, but not like this. His emotions were
[00:36:24] measured, but not here. This is probably one of the most unique windows that we get into the humanity of Jesus. And so what I want to begin by doing is I just want to lean into the awkwardness
[00:36:40] of what we see here. If you were to go to Luke's account, he says that Jesus's, quote, sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Now, if you didn't know this,
[00:36:55] Before Luke became a follower of Jesus, he was a physician.
[00:36:59] And so it sort of makes sense that Luke would have taken note of the physical things that were going on with Jesus at various moments.
[00:37:08] And he brought up that very fact.
[00:37:11] Now, it seems to be that there is a rare condition called hematidosis, where one's sweat can actually produce blood when it's brought on by extreme emotional trauma.
[00:37:27] And that's what's going on here.
[00:37:31] Y'all probably know this.
[00:37:32] It's like I've sat with people when they've experienced some of their deepest moments of sadness, but I have never experienced hematosis.
[00:37:44] I've never seen that.
[00:37:45] can we also name the awkwardness of the interaction between Jesus and his disciples?
[00:37:54] So, right, when Jesus goes off to pray, he decides to take his three closest friends.
[00:38:00] This would be his discipleship group, right?
[00:38:03] Peter, James, and John.
[00:38:06] He asks them to watch over him while he goes off a little bit further to pray.
[00:38:11] And every time he comes back, what are the disciples doing?
[00:38:15] They're sleeping.
[00:38:17] And yet Jesus keeps inviting them to stay, watch, and to pray.
[00:38:23] And every time they fail, it sort of reminds me of that phrase, right?
[00:38:28] Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice, shame on Jesus.
[00:38:37] Now, you may say with all this, right, Jesus is getting ready to die.
[00:38:42] Of course, Jesus would be an emotional wreck in this very moment.
[00:38:47] But here's what's interesting about that.
[00:38:48] If you look back over history, there have been numerous examples of martyrs who faced gruesome deaths, whether being burned at the stake, thrown to animals, cut to pieces. And nonetheless, all of these historical recordings of these events, all of these martyrs were more composed
[00:39:10] at the time of their death than Jesus was right here, right? To put Jesus's anguish in perspective, if there's this one historian who looked at all of the examples of leaders and other people dying
[00:39:24] in history, and he said there is no other example in ancient literature, including the Bible, where someone shows the amount of anguish over their death that we see right here in Matthew 26.
[00:39:39] This takes the cake. Here's how I want to frame our time together today. So last week, we looked at a passage that encouraged us to be like Mary of Bethany, to sit at the feet of Jesus.
[00:39:57] This week, I want us to sit with Jesus at the feet of his heavenly father. That's really the invitation that is given to us in this passage being before us. I do not think I can solve all
[00:40:16] the mystery surrounding this passage. But I do think I can help us to see how this moment shaped Jesus. So this may be a little bit risky to say, but I think this moment in Gethsemane,
[00:40:34] it changed Jesus. It changed him, at least as it relates to his human nature. And it makes me wonder, if it has the power to change Jesus, then maybe there's something we see here that can
[00:40:52] change us. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to look at three things. We're going to look at how this prayer in Gethsemane, how it solidified the nature of Jesus's relationship. It gave clarity
[00:41:09] to his purpose, and it gave him strength to do both. Those are the three things. All right, so first, This moment, it solidified for Jesus the nature of his relationship with God the Father.
[00:41:24] So, all right, Jesus is with the disciples.
[00:41:26] After the Last Supper, they go to Gethsemane, which is an olive orchard.
[00:41:32] It's on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives, which is like just east of Jerusalem.
[00:41:39] And there he tells them, sit here while I go over there and pray.
[00:41:45] And then he tells, right, I mentioned this earlier, Peter, James, and John, his discipleship group, to walk with him further into the garden.
[00:41:51] And at that moment, he tells them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
[00:41:59] Remain here and watch me.
[00:42:03] And then the text says that Jesus went like a little bit further into the garden.
[00:42:08] And then he fell on his face.
[00:42:10] And here was his prayer.
[00:42:13] My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Every time that Jesus prayed, all three times, he began with the exact same words, my father. In the Greek, which the New Testament was written in, that word father
[00:42:34] is the word pater, P-A-T-E-R, right? It's where we get the word like paternity. If you went to the original Greek text, it's worth noting that in the original Greek, the very first word in the
[00:42:49] original Greek is not the word my. It's actually pater. It's father. So the very first words that come out of Jesus' mouth are literally the word father. If you were to go to Mark's account of
[00:43:05] the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus actually adds another word right before father, right before pater, in the original Greek. And to add to the weight of what Mark describes, this is the only time in all four gospel accounts that Jesus uses this word, right here in Gethsemane. The only time
[00:43:31] he uses this one word right before pater. If you go to Mark chapter 14, verse 36, here's how he begins his prayer. The text says, and Jesus said, Abba, Father. Gethsemane is the only place you'll
[00:43:52] find in the entire Bible where Jesus uses this word Abba. And what's interesting about this word Abba is that it's actually a different language from the rest of the New Testament. So let me take a step back for a second. There were three languages that were spoken in Jerusalem
[00:44:13] at the time of Jesus' life.
[00:44:17] There was Greek.
[00:44:18] This was the language of the Roman Empire, the people who currently ruled over Israel and really the whole region.
[00:44:25] They were the biggest show in town.
[00:44:27] Then you had Hebrew.
[00:44:29] Hebrew was the sacred language of the Jewish people.
[00:44:34] The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew.
[00:44:38] However, Hebrew was not the most common language that the Jewish people used at this time.
[00:44:45] Hebrew was largely relegated to when you were reading the sacred scriptures or you were debating or talking about those religious scriptures.
[00:44:56] The third language that was prevalent was Aramaic.
[00:45:01] Aramaic was the everyday language of the people in the ancient Near Eastern region.
[00:45:08] It was the language that would have been used by Jesus and the disciples, maybe when they're fishermen, when they're sitting at home.
[00:45:15] This was the everyday vernacular that they would use.
[00:45:19] So, as I mentioned earlier, the New Testament was written in Greek.
[00:45:23] I think there's like only ten examples in the entire New Testament where the Aramaic is somehow randomly inserted into a passage.
[00:45:31] This is one of those two.
[00:45:33] This word Abba is Aramaic.
[00:45:37] He intentionally, therefore, employs the most common word for a child talking to their father.
[00:45:47] And this is why a lot of scholars have, I think, correctly said that the word Abba here would be the equivalent of the word daddy.
[00:45:56] You know, kids have their own words for their parents.
[00:46:03] When I talk to my son on the phone, he'll call me pops.
[00:46:08] My daughter-in-law, she has like five different words for me.
[00:46:12] I think one of them more recently is dibbly.
[00:46:14] I don't know what that means, but that's the word she often uses.
[00:46:18] But this word, Abba, this is daddy.
[00:46:24] This word Abba, it has two components to it.
[00:46:28] It has a formal component and a relational component.
[00:46:33] So the formal component is that only one type of person can use this word with an adult.
[00:46:44] When I first graduated college, my first pastor as a young professional was this guy named Murray.
[00:46:53] he told me this story one time about his four year old son who decided one day his name was Tom and he decided that he was going to start referring to his dad by his first name
[00:47:10] and so when Murray came home from work that day he said hey Murray and right at first kids do that it's super cute but after like a week it's not cute anymore it's kind of annoying
[00:47:27] And this kept going on.
[00:47:29] He'd come home from work.
[00:47:30] His son Tom would say, hey, Murray.
[00:47:33] And it just really started to grate on his nerves.
[00:47:37] And so at one point, he decided, I was like, it's not working.
[00:47:41] He keeps telling him to stop calling him Murray, and it doesn't work.
[00:47:44] He just keeps doing it more and more.
[00:47:45] He was a really stubborn kid.
[00:47:48] And so finally, he thought about it for a while, and he eventually sat Tom down, and he said, all right, you're right.
[00:47:59] My first name is Murray, but here's the deal.
[00:48:01] There is only one person in this world who has the privilege of calling me dad.
[00:48:10] Not you.
[00:48:11] You're the only one.
[00:48:13] So why don't you just go back to calling me dad because that's what makes our relationships, that you went back to calling me dad.
[00:48:25] Here in Gethsemane, Jesus called God the Father, and this isn't because he forgot about it up until now.
[00:48:36] I think it's simply because he wants us to see the formal uniqueness of their relationship.
[00:48:46] And nothing communicates that more than his ability to call him Abba.
[00:48:52] But here's where it gets to the second point, right?
[00:48:56] That formal component is precisely what opens up the relational component, right?
[00:49:03] when you live into the formal reality of Abba Father, it means that you're able to let the one person see not just your public worst, but your actual worst. It means that you'll bring your
[00:49:17] real problems to him, not just your superficial ones. And so in that sense, it makes perfect sense that Jesus' most emotional moment in his life took place in the presence of his Abba Father.
[00:49:37] And what's noteworthy about this Abba Father prayer is that the early church saw this moment as incredibly consequential for our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.
[00:49:53] When the Apostle Paul was writing to the church in Galatians, He used what happened in Gethsemane as sort of a ground zero for something else.
[00:50:03] Here's what he said.
[00:50:05] He said, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth a son born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law that they might receive adoption as sons.
[00:50:15] And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son in our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
[00:50:21] The Abba Father in Gethsemane becomes something that every believer has because of faith in Jesus.
[00:50:30] You know, for you folks who know our Constitution as a church, the Westminster Confession of Faith, there's an entire chapter in that Confession of Faith that is attributed to this very moment and the implications of it in the garden, adoption.
[00:50:48] It all comes from what we see here in the garden of Gethsemane.
[00:50:53] And to take it a little bit further, I don't think it's a coincidence that in the same moment where we see Jesus using the word Abba for the first time, it also happens to be a moment where he has the capacity in the midst of his impending death
[00:51:09] to invite his disciples to share in this intimacy with him over and over again in spite of the fact that they keep falling asleep.
[00:51:19] How is it that Jesus has that capacity to keep inviting intimacy with these disciples even though they keep failing?
[00:51:30] Well, it's because he's living into this reality of Abba Father.
[00:51:34] It's what enables him to invite people into intimacy, right?
[00:51:38] Abba Father, it is the engine that enables Jesus to move into the lives of undeserving people.
[00:51:45] And here's what I would contend, is it's the exact same truth for us.
[00:51:50] The more you live into this reality that in God you have an Abba Father, you have a Daddy, it will change your capacity to love other people.
[00:52:02] It will grow.
[00:52:04] Your capacity to love others will no longer be based upon their capacity to be lovable, but it's based on your belief and your experience of a God who already loves you.
[00:52:16] It will grow your capacity to love people in ways you would have never been able to do before.
[00:52:20] Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane did a second thing.
[00:52:29] It clarified his purpose on earth.
[00:52:34] So let's look at the rest of Jesus' prayer.
[00:52:38] He says, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
[00:52:42] Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
[00:52:47] All right, so what does he mean by let this cup pass?
[00:52:51] To our knowledge, there is no physical cup that would have been present there in the Garden of Gethsemane.
[00:52:55] So he's talking about something else.
[00:52:58] In the Old Testament, this word cup is a metaphor for the wrath of God.
[00:53:07] It's the wrath of God on human evil.
[00:53:09] It's the image of divine justice being poured out on human injustice.
[00:53:16] A couple of Old Testament examples.
[00:53:19] If you go to Ezekiel 23, this is in verses 32 through 34, the prophet writes this.
[00:53:25] Thus says the Lord God, you shall drink your cup that is deep and large.
[00:53:31] You shall be laughed at and held in derision, a cup of horror and desolation.
[00:53:36] You shall drink it and gnaw its shards and tear your breasts.
[00:53:42] Isaiah 51, 22, God says this.
[00:53:45] He speaks of the, quote, cup that makes you stagger, the goblet of my wrath.
[00:53:52] So in the garden, Jesus was emotionally anticipating not simply physical death, but he was anticipating the wrath of God, which would be an objective reality on the cross.
[00:54:09] And what we're seeing here is true to Isaiah 51.
[00:54:13] It made him stagger.
[00:54:16] This is really the whole point of the cross, right?
[00:54:19] The one man who never gave into temptation was willing to die for every single person who did.
[00:54:28] The person who knew no sin was willing to own all of our sin.
[00:54:34] He was about to experience the wrath of God for his people that he came to save.
[00:54:40] He's about to drink.
[00:54:44] Listen to what Isaiah 53 says when it speaks of the promised Messiah.
[00:54:50] In verses 4 and 5, Isaiah writes, Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
[00:54:59] Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
[00:55:05] But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.
[00:55:10] Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
[00:55:18] This is what explains why Jesus was so undone by his impending death in a way that no other martyr has ever been.
[00:55:28] because no martyr ever had to experience in their death the wrath of God, right?
[00:55:35] The reason Jesus was dreading his death is not because of any sins of his own, but because he was going to answer for all of our sins.
[00:55:45] And that made him staggered to consider the weight of the sins of the world, right?
[00:55:49] This, I think, is the reason why Jesus didn't invite Peter, James, and John to pray with him.
[00:55:57] If you go back to the text, he asked them to watch while he went a little bit further into the garden to pray.
[00:56:02] Why did he not invite them to pray with him?
[00:56:05] Well, that was because he was praying a prayer that only he could pray, even though these men were going to die martyrs to us as well.
[00:56:15] This was a prayer that was only for him to pray and no one else.
[00:56:19] He prayed it so that we never have to.
[00:56:22] So, the wrath of God, right, this is probably one of the more unpopular doctrines in our culture.
[00:56:34] It's also one of the more irrefutable doctrines in the Bible.
[00:56:40] Jesus, in fact, talks about the wrath of God more than any other author in the Bible, right?
[00:56:46] If you decide I'm just a red-letter Christian, well, you still have to face the reality of this idea of wrath.
[00:56:54] And it's interesting that in his final prayer that he ever prays before his death, he chooses to bring it up, the cup of God's wrath.
[00:57:05] If you want to explore this sort of question of the wrath of God, I think I preached a sermon on the book of Revelation a few months ago.
[00:57:13] I can point you there.
[00:57:15] But one of the things I will bring up, and I mentioned this in that sermon back in the fall, there is this Yale professor, a guy named Miroslav Volf.
[00:57:25] early on in his career, he was a religion professor, that he could not stand the idea of the wrath of God.
[00:57:31] He put it this way.
[00:57:32] He said wrath was unworthy of God.
[00:57:37] However, after seeing his own people suffer in the Bosnian War back in the 1980s, 90s, he ended up changing his tune.
[00:57:48] After seeing all the injustice that his people experienced, he realized that a God without wrath against injustice Injustice is actually not a God of real love.
[00:58:01] And so he recanted that line, and he replaced it with this one.
[00:58:06] He said, God isn't wrathful in spite of being loved.
[00:58:10] God is wrathful because God.
[00:58:15] Pastor Tim Keller, he put it this way.
[00:58:17] He said, if you don't believe in a God of wrath, you have no idea of your value.
[00:58:28] Jesus' death on the cross shows you what God was willing to do in order for you to have a relationship with your heavenly father.
[00:58:35] Abba Father is secured because he took the wrath of God seriously.
[00:58:39] He was willing to die, right?
[00:58:41] He was willing to pay our debt to take the fall for all those times that we failed to love people who were created in his image, right?
[00:58:47] He was willing to pay the ransom to set us free.
[00:58:52] He backed up the very forgiveness that he actually talked about.
[00:58:58] And here's what I want us to see in Gethsemane.
[00:59:01] is you get to see in real time Jesus living into the implications of his purpose.
[00:59:08] So if you look at verse 39, Jesus' first prayer is this.
[00:59:14] If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
[00:59:18] Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
[00:59:23] Look at his second prayer.
[00:59:24] And notice in verse 42 how this prayer, it changes, but in a very significant way.
[00:59:32] In 42, he says, my father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
[00:59:42] The more time that Jesus spends in prayer, the more he lives into and understands and gets clarity around his purpose, and he has the power to live into it.
[00:59:56] Jonathan Edwards on the Garden of Gethsemane, here's how he described what Jesus was doing here.
[01:00:02] He says, quote, God first brought him and set him at the mouth of the furnace that he might look in and might see where he was going and what he was about to suffer so that he could voluntarily enter into it and bear it for sinners, completely knowing what it was.
[01:00:24] The beauty of this moment is that Jesus is showing us that he knew exactly what it would cost him to be betrayed and to go to the cross.
[01:00:36] And he knew exactly who he was dying for.
[01:00:39] Three dudes who kept falling asleep in the moment where he asked him to do otherwise.
[01:00:46] And at the end of the Garden of Gethsemane, he decided, I'm doing this.
[01:00:54] When you buy a house, there's a lot of steps that go into it, right?
[01:01:02] You go under contract, you put down some earnest money, you have your due diligence period.
[01:01:08] You get inspectors.
[01:01:09] You do all the work so that you know exactly what you're signing up for and then you get to the moment where you go under contract and it comes in the form of providing a down payment
[01:01:19] and then it's done and you move forward.
[01:01:24] That's what Jesus is doing right here.
[01:01:27] This is the moment in Gethsemane where Jesus puts down the down payment.
[01:01:33] He's done his due diligence period.
[01:01:35] He's had the inspections.
[01:01:36] He knows exactly what he's signing up for, and he's decided, I am doing this.
[01:01:42] I am going under contract.
[01:01:44] I am putting down the down payment.
[01:01:46] I am all in on these people.
[01:01:48] Jesus is all in on me, and he is all in on you.
[01:01:53] All right, third point I'll bring up is that Jesus' time with the Father here, it strengthens him.
[01:02:02] So there's a real difference between Jesus at the very beginning of this prayer and Jesus at the very end.
[01:02:12] And I want us to appreciate this.
[01:02:14] So he begins pleading with the Father, is there another way than the way of the cross?
[01:02:22] But then look at the very last sentence he gives in verse 46.
[01:02:26] Earlier he said, I'm very sorrowful to the point of death, right?
[01:02:28] They were seeing the hematidosis that was taking place in Jesus.
[01:02:33] But then in verse 46, he says to his disciples, rise. Let us be going. See my betrayer. Is it he? Jesus's prayer here in Gethsemane, it validates something that we already know to be true about prayer, but it also demonstrates
[01:02:56] something that we often take for granted. So the thing that we already intuitively get is this.
[01:03:04] We understand that when we go to God in prayer, right, that we can actually ask him to change things in our lives, right? We pray for God to give us a job. I mean, Jason prayed for a number
[01:03:17] of these things earlier, right? We pray for God to give us a job, to give us help, to get us out of a situation. We pray for loved ones who are sick. And what we see here in Gethsemane is Jesus
[01:03:30] is validating those prayers, right? Jesus prayed for a change in circumstances. But the primary purpose of prayer, and this is what this passage also reveals, is that the primary purpose of prayer is not to change God's plans. It's to change God's people, beginning with us.
[01:03:54] This is why we pray, right? The act of prayer accomplishes good regardless of how God answers.
[01:04:04] That's sort of the point of Gethsemane. Prayer strengthens us, right? A professional athlete is not going to be a professional athlete for much longer if they don't go to the gym, if they don't practice.
[01:04:21] That's how prayer operates in the life of a Christian.
[01:04:26] It's practice.
[01:04:27] It makes our faith more muscular.
[01:04:32] It enables us to carry burdens that we would not have been able to carry otherwise.
[01:04:38] That is the benefit of prayer, regardless of how God answers.
[01:04:42] it's worth noting that if you were to go to Luke's version of the guard of Gethsemane he tells us that during this prayer Matthew doesn't mention it but Luke does that there was somebody who showed
[01:04:58] up in Gethsemane at the moment of this prayer and sort of to add to over the mystery of it the only other time that this person showed up was at Jesus' temptation.
[01:05:14] And he was also there at Jesus' birth.
[01:05:17] I'm not talking about God the Father.
[01:05:19] I'm talking about somebody else.
[01:05:23] If you go to Luke 22, verse 43, here's what we're told that happened at the moment of the Garden of Gethsemane.
[01:05:31] It says, and there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
[01:05:40] There appeared an angel from heaven that was strengthening Jesus.
[01:05:49] And so this text confirms that Jesus, the God-man, right, the one without sin, he benefited from this prayer.
[01:05:57] He was stronger on the other side of this prayer than he was before.
[01:06:02] It's a fascinating concept for the sake of a guy who is sinless and perfect.
[01:06:09] I'll give you another passage that I think is another window into what was going on in this moment of the Garden of Gethsemane.
[01:06:17] If you were to go to Hebrews 5, here's what it says.
[01:06:21] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death.
[01:06:31] And he was heard because of his reverence.
[01:06:36] And although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
[01:06:45] That's fascinating.
[01:06:46] we know that we benefit because of Jesus' suffering, right?
[01:06:54] That's the purpose of the communion that we're going to take here in a second.
[01:06:58] But it's also good for us to be reminded that Jesus benefited through his own suffering.
[01:07:05] That's the point of this whole strengthening.
[01:07:08] He gained something through his pain.
[01:07:12] And the reason he gained something through his pain is because he brought that pain in the context of his Abba Father.
[01:07:19] And I think that means that we can gain something through whatever pain we have right now.
[01:07:25] It's as if, if we have the courage to bring our pain before our Abba Father, we will find that there's a profound good and strengthening that will take place in our own life, regardless of how he answers those prayers.
[01:07:40] You know, the sacrament of communion reminds us that Jesus' suffering required him to experience something so that we would never have to experience it.
[01:07:53] And that's the wrath of God.
[01:07:56] He paid for our sins so that if you put your faith in Jesus, you will never, and I repeat, never have to pay for your own sins.
[01:08:08] You know, it's interesting.
[01:08:09] I don't know if you've considered this, that two significant acts in redemptive history took place in a garden.
[01:08:17] In the first garden, in Genesis 3, that's what created our need for redemption.
[01:08:29] Thousands of years later, in another garden, Jesus secured our redemption.
[01:08:37] He paid the down payment.
[01:08:39] He's all in.
[01:08:41] And we take this sacrament of communion to be reminded that that down payment is something that he ultimately fulfilled through his own death on the cross for our sins, so that we never have to worry about the wrath of God.
[01:08:53] And instead, we have the audacity to go before the God of the universe, the God who holds everything together, and we can call him just like Jesus did.
[01:09:06] That is a profoundly good thing.
[01:09:11] And that's why we take this sacrament of communion to be reminded of this.
[01:09:15] This sacrament of communion is for people who've come to a place in their spiritual journey where they've looked at who Jesus was and what he did, and they believe that what he did 2,000 years ago
[01:09:27] was to secure for us our redemption.
[01:09:31] And so this sacrament of communion is for people who've only come to a point in their spiritual journey where they have placed their faith in this Jesus who died for their sins so that they could be called sons and daughters
[01:09:45] of their heavenly father.
[01:09:47] If you've never put your faith in Jesus, we would encourage you not to take this sacrament of communion.
[01:09:52] Instead, this is an opportunity for you to spend in silent reflection and maybe to start dialoguing with God and exploring what it looks like to put your faith in Him.
[01:10:02] We typically have the Sacrament of Communion every Sunday.
[01:10:05] Whenever you get to a point in your journey and you've gotten to a place where you have actually put your faith in Jesus, then this would be an opportunity, a meal that is set for you at that time.
[01:10:16] If you have any questions about what that looks like, please talk to me.
[01:10:20] I'd be happy to have a conversation, explore what that looks like.
[01:10:23] But for those who have put their faith in Jesus, who died on the cross and rose again, Jesus wants us to be reminded that on the night he was betrayed, he took the bread, he broke it, and he gave it to his disciples,
[01:10:38] and he said, this represents my body that was broken for you.
[01:10:42] After the supper, he took the cup, and he said, this cup, it represents my blood.
[01:10:47] It was shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
[01:10:49] Drink from it, all of you.
[01:10:51] Here's how we do communion here at Midtown Community Church.
[01:10:54] After I pray, you'll come up through the center two aisles.
[01:10:59] You'll pitch off a piece of bread.
[01:11:00] If you need a gluten-free option, that will be provided in my far right, your far left.
[01:11:05] Every tray, the outer ring is grape juice.
[01:11:08] Everything else is wine.
[01:11:10] So take according to your conscience.
[01:11:12] You'll exit through the exterior aisles, return to your seat.
[01:11:15] And then after everybody's been served, I'll then lead us so that we as a community of faith can take the sacrament of communion together.
[01:11:22] Let me pray, and if those who are serving would come forward this time.
[01:11:30] Heavenly Father, it is easy to take for granted exactly what it cost you to bring us to this point where we can take the sacrament of communion together.
[01:11:48] And so we thank you for the story of the Garden of Gethsemane because it reminds us that you knew exactly what you were getting into when you hung on that cross and you hung on that cross.
[01:12:05] And because you did that, you are communicating to every one of us, regardless of what we've done, regardless of how much we look like the disciples did here in the garden, we are worth it, even though we don't deserve it.
[01:12:21] And we thank you for that.
[01:12:23] Help us to live in that reality.
[01:12:25] Help us to see you as our heavenly daddy, that we can bring not just our public facing worse, but our real worse to you.
[01:12:35] We can bring our concerns and our struggles, our sufferings, our temptations.
[01:12:40] You understand and you love us.
[01:12:43] May this be an opportunity to be a true means of grace for us, your people.
[01:12:46] In your name, amen.
[01:12:47] This represents my body.
[01:15:48] This represents my blood.
[01:16:05] It was shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
[01:16:07] Drink for all of you, Heavenly Father.
[01:16:19] Thank you for this sacrament of communion.
[01:16:22] It serves as a perpetual reminder for your church.
[01:16:25] We still need grace today.
[01:16:28] and You, just like a true and good Father, are eager to give that grace to us.
[01:16:38] And so we thank You for Your love.
[01:16:39] We thank You that it's secured for us the rights of being sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.
[01:16:46] We pray this in Jesus' name.

[01:16:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:16:47] Amen.
[01:16:49] Let's stand and sing together.
[01:16:50] Singing, everybody.

[01:20:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:20:29] Your benediction, Romans 8, beginning at verse 15.
[01:20:37] for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba Father. Amen.
[01:20:53] Go in peace.